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Bokurano: Alternative
Original translation by WakuTakashi9
Website: http://bokuranofanpage.wordpress.com
Twitter: @WakuTakashi9

Scans and PDF conversion: Dobu Dobu

Twitter: @Dobu_Dobu

This novel translation is formatted for 2-page view in a

PDF reader (specifically Adobe Acrobat Reader), and can
best be enjoyed as such. For the most part, names are
in Western order (Given Name, Family Name). Illus-
trations appear in-line with the points at which they
appear in the book.

Do not copy and repost translation to other sources

without permission from WakuTakashi9.

This initial PDF version was created February 2, 2016.

 10

The year we started junior high, we considered ourselves all grown up.
We thought we could do anything. We laughed, we cried, we got
angry... We thought we knew all there was to life. But in reality, we
were just kids, sheltered by our parents and by society. We'd never
experienced true sadness, joy, or anger. We found that out when the
fifteen of us got together... and when we met It.

It all started on that summer day. It was a scene that could have been
anywhere — a dozen or so middle school students playing around on
the seashore under the pretext of ‘observing nature‘. We were told by
our parents that “It’s summer break! Don’t waste it playing games in the
house. Go out and see some nature.” That’s pretty much how the 14 of
us ended up getting sent out there.

Some of us grabbed things like nets and waded into the sea up to our
knees to catch crabs, while some took notes seriously. There were, of
course, the guys who tossed crabs at the girls to make them scream.
That’s the sort of typical summer scene it was.

The only slightly unusual thing about that summer was that it took place
on an island separated from the mainland by a full day’s ride on the
regular ferry. Until we met It, we really were just ordinary kids. In this
country. You could probably find countless kids like us spending their
summer breaks in a similar fashion. And there are probably also many
kids like us in other countries, living out their own happy and carefree
memories. Or maybe there were also countless kids like us who were
forever deprived of their chance to enjoy happiness by circumstances
11

none of us could possibly have imagined at the time, and who were laid
low with despair.

There are 10 billion people living on our world, and none of us amounted
to more than one in 10 billion of the whole. Each of us certainly believed
that we were something special. Each of us was living our own lives with
our own worries.

Us…
Waku — Takashi Waku,
Kozue — Kozue Kurasaka,
Kako — Isao Kako,
Kirie — Yosuke Kirie,
Tsubasa — Tsubasa Hiiragi,
Chizu — Chizuru Honda,
Mako — Mako Ano,
Kodama — Masaru Kodaka,
Komo — Takami Komoda,
Anko — Aiko Tokosumi,
Maria — Maria Ichinose,
Kanji — Kanji Yoshikawa,
Ushiro — Jun Ushiro,
Kana — Kana Ushiro.

These were the 14 in our group.

However, we were each but one in 10 billion. Only 14 among 10 billion,

we really were just normal kids, with the ordinary, petty worries that
 12

normal kids have. There was absolutely nothing that was particularly
special about us.

There was no particular reason why we should have the right or duty to
represent the entire world’s 10 billion inhabitants.

So … why then? Why were we chosen? And why did She choose us?

She. Who was it that discovered Her first? It was something that could
never be seen on the mainland, poised between the emerald-green sky
and sea, the world was bleached white by the overpowering brightness
of the sun as it rose to the middle of the sky. Since when had She been
there? It was as if the midsummer atmosphere had been sliced open at
precisely that spot, or as if a gloomy, gaping hole had opened up in the
earth. And there stood a young girl. Despite the sweltering midsummer
heat, she was dressed in a black gown. It was all too sudden and all too
strange. Who was the first to speak to her, and what did they say?

It could have been anyone, and they could have said anything. It’s
certain that it was just talking to make conversation — something with
no real content, like, “Are you from around here?”

Regardless, although we did feel a little uneasy about her all-black

appearance. At the time, she was still very much a part of our ordinary
world.

It should have been an unremarkable situation; a familiar story in which

children going to a seaside school on an island and get to know a local
kid. They become friends in the course of their conversations, then keep
up later on by writing each other regularly. It’s the kind of thing that could
13

happen anywhere, and there should have been nothing more to it than
that.

But she didn’t answer any of our questions. Instead, she turned toward
us with a face with features more refined than an amateur pop star, and
looked each one of us up and down as though sizing us up. She had a
remarkably grown-up expression for someone who appeared to be
about the same age as us. Grown up. Or maybe cold is more like it —
cold and hard. She seemed to have discarded her emotions somewhere.
The impression I got was that of someone who had been stripped of all
feeling by a harsh, cruel reality. Despite it being summer, a chill went up
my spine. Her gaze stopped. Her eyes fixed on me.

She looked at me, nodded, and then smiled. She had dimples when she
smiled, and from her faint smile, all the initial coldness melted away. But
that made it all the more terrifying. That was the moment. The moment
that our world became unhinged. This is what she said:

“Hey guys. How would you like to try saving the world?”

It felt as if we were daydreaming. This young girl dressed up in black like

a witch under a scorching midsummer sun, inviting us to ‘save the world’.
The tale that started that day has certainly been dreamlike — the
imperiled green earth, the fifteen attacking enemies, and us, going out
to meet them.
 14

It’s a fantastic tale, and it is our story.

 16

Waku would always remember those words.

The first words she said.

There were thirteen of them in the first year of middle school and one in
the final year of elementary school. Waku and the others were taking
part in an Interactive Learning Nature School on an island. All kinds of
sightseeing activities were available, making it a little like a school trip to
the seaside. The trip south from the mainland took two days on a large
ferry. The island was a perfect place to make summer memories, from
swimming in the sea to a whole host of nature activities, not that the
island was that large. As the two week program drew to a close there
was just time to fit in a few less academic activities such as sightseeing
and whale watching.

On that day they amused themselves splashing around in the sea, all in
the name of nature observation. While they thought of themselves as full
grown adults, the middle schoolers still had a little childishness left in
them. With everything they had been through over the two weeks, even
the most mature of them was exhausted.

Being allowed to spend time on a nearby beach was a well-deserved

break. It seemed all the more enjoyable because it felt somewhat like
skipping the official schedule. Even those who were a little awkward at
the idea of spending two weeks with strangers their own age were
starting to open themselves to others.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join in, Waku-kun?”

“No way. You don’t do nature walks in middle school. We’re past all that.”
17

Waku tried to put on the air of an adult, but in doing so made himself
seem all the more childish. The two children were resting under the
shade of a tree a little away from the shore. Kozue sat in her motorized
wheelchair with Waku alongside as they watched the others.

But Kozue knew the truth. Waku was worried that Kozue couldn’t join in
playing in the sea with the others.

They observed the scene.

“Wow! I’ve never seen a hermit crab before!” exclaimed Anko, a city girl.

“It looks like it’d be the first to go in a big earthquake,” mocked Kanji.

Next to them Kako made an obvious approach towards Chizu, which

was easily avoided, and between them stood Kirie, desperately trying to
mediate the splashing contest.

The only ones taking the nature observation activity seriously were
Komo, Mako and Kodama. Mako was scooping up fish from the sea,
while Kodama looked them up on his pocket dictionary and Komo
entered them in a notebook. It looked as though Kodama got involved
with Mako and Komo’s serious efforts just to give him an excuse to use
the gadget. The pocket dictionary he was fiddling with actually belonged
to Mako. All mobile games had been confiscated on the first day of the
school, so to Kodama the device was the closest thing to civilization left.
Unlike its original owner, who was hopeless with technology, Kodama
had quickly mastered the device.

“Maria! Don’t go out so far. It’s dangerous,” someone shouted.

 18

“It’s okay! It looks far but I’m a good swimmer. ‘A girl of the navy has to
swim!’ as my dad always says,” came back Maria’s equally booming
voice.

“You might be okay but what about Kana-chan?”

“It’s okay! A true mother has faith enough to throw her child into the
abyss. I want her to see the world!”

“It’s not okay! She doesn’t have to see that much!”

Kana, the elementary schooler, was riding piggyback on her shoulders

as Maria plunged on into the open sea. Maria was half African American,
half Japanese. Her lively personality drove her onwards despite her
shorts already being soaked through. Kana, riding aloft, seemed
naturally a little anxious, and Tsubasa was the one trying to get Maria to
stop.

“Meh. Let her float away,” barked the person who should really have
been looking after her, Ushiro, Kana’s older brother.

Almost two weeks had passed since the start of the Nature School. It
already felt like they’d been there forever. Before long their time would
come to an end.

The played out children stopped for a break. They sat in a circle in the
shade of a tree and Mako, who had been appointed group leader,
handed out snacks. Tsubasa and Komo passed around paper cups of
barley tea.

That was when it happened.

19

When they met that girl.

Before anyone knew it, a girl was standing there.

She looks the same age as us, thought Waku.

The girl looked out of place. Even with the cool sea breeze the sun
blazed a good 90 degrees heat. In the height of summer the girl was
dressed in a jet black long-sleeved one-piece with black knee-length
socks. Dressed like that she looked as though she might join Kozue and
Komo and come close to collapse within five minutes, but before anyone
knew it there she stood. Even her hair was jet black, her two plaits
blowing in the sea breeze. Despite the scorching weather her skin stood
out as a ghostly white, even whiter than Anko’s, who refused to go out
before she’d spent 30 minutes applying sun cream each day. She
seemed disconnected from reality, as though she’d just appeared there
from another land.

The girl didn’t seem to be doing anything, and she didn’t say anything.
She was simply standing there, without anybody quite knowing how she
got there.

But…

The group was suddenly spellbound by the girl, or rather, they were
captivated by her unusual appearance, and the chatter stopped.

“Do you… live around here?” The silence was broken as Waku asked,
taking charge.

The girl didn’t answer, and simply surveyed the group.

 20

She seemed composed, but her expression was distant and cold. Her
eyes seemed to be evaluating the group, or maybe checking something.

And then, a single nod.

The girl said the words.

Waku would always remember them.

The girl said…

“So, you guys want to save the world?”

The girl’s voice was soft but Waku heard it clearly, like it called to his
very soul.

But… save the world? She’s making some sort of joke…

So Waku answered, “Is it some sort of game?”

“Game?”

The girl gave a brief nod.

“Yes, a game. You’d be like the world’s only team of game players.”

“So, what sort of game is it?” asked Kodama, his eyes lighting up.

“It’s simple. Very simple. Fifteen giant enemies will attack this world. If
the enemies aren’t defeated this Earth will end. But the enemies are very
powerful. Only a giant robot would be able to resist them.”

“A robot?!”
21

“Yes.”

The girl spoke as though reciting a poem she’d sung a thousand times,
speaking without pausing, distant from reality.

“Mass of blackness. Armor layered. Power devastating. Life

unassailable. You… will be the pilots.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Wow. Sounds interesting,” said Waku.

“Indeed. And the others?”

Of course, Waku wasn’t the only one who was intrigued. Over the past
two weeks at the Nature School they had all gradually gotten bored with
the never-changing scene of the island. It wasn’t clear exactly what the
girl was talking about, but it seemed like something exciting. And after
all, aside from one, they were all in middle school now. They all knew
the truth about Santa Claus, and knew things like giant robots and
righteous heroes were confined to fiction in anime and manga.

So, the children imagined the girl’s offbeat tale must be some sort of
eccentric event organized by one of the older children.

It’ll probably be a surprise of some sort to kick off a new recreational

activity. The nature observation trip must have been a pretext to give
them time to prepare. To be honest the way the girl introduced it was a
little stiff, so corny. This whole setup is like something from elementary
school.
 22

In the end, the kind-hearted children decided it was some kind of event,
and agreed to participate out of politeness, despite not really knowing
what it was.

Perhaps all for similar reasons, the rest of the children agreed with Waku.

The girl seemed satisfied. “So, it’s decided,” she said, smiling.

I remember the smile especially.

But vaguely.

Waku’s memory from there on was indistinct, or even non-existent.

We were definitely on the sun-drenched beach.

But before they knew it…

Before they knew it they were in an old wooden building. It was run down
and smelled musky. Not only was it old, it had seemed to have been
abandoned a long time ago. This was obvious from the thick layer of
dust carpeting the floor. Every step left a print, like footprints in fresh
snow. The dust whirled around like mist and Komo coughed a little. Piled
up at the back of the main room was a mound of desks, giving the
impression that it must once have been used as a school. The windows
were boarded up so the outside wasn’t visible.

The room was gloomy, but the electricity still worked. Decaying
fluorescent lamps flickered on and off, and, looking completely out of
place, several computer monitors cast their eerie glow into the dim room.

Did local kids bring computers here to play games? wondered Waku.
23

Is this room even on the island? We can’t see outside and I don’t
remember seeing it on the map of the island. What route did we even
take to get here? And who pushed Kozue’s wheelchair?

Before Waku could express his concerns the girl began to speak. She
stood on a platform and made her announcement in her usual grandiose
manner.

“This is the room of the sacred contract; the room where it all begins.”

As before the girl’s delivery was over-dramatic and some of the boys
laughed.

“Hey. This is important to build the atmosphere. There’s going to be a

fierce battle for the fate of the world. You have to prepare yourself
seriously,” said one of the girls, laughing back.

What’s she talking about? wondered Waku. What sort of cheesy game
is this? With this build up it’s going to be some boring, old-fashioned
retro game.

He looked around.

In contrast to the age of the building, the computers were brand new.
They certainly looked more powerful than those in the IT room at Waku’s
school.

Kodama, who was more of an expert on these things, looked mystified

and asked, “What brand are these? What OS do they run?” New model
I guess.
24
25

However, the girl nimbly eluded Kodama’s question, “So, all participants
in the game must place their hand on a sacred slate and make a chosen
hero’s contract. Just touch it and say your name.”

With that from somewhere she took out boards similar to a triangular
baseball base and presented them to the children.

“What do you mean, contract?” But before Waku could finish his
question Kako jumped forward to get first place.

“I’m number one! Kako Isao. Hah. Too slow.”

“Ki… Kirie… Yosuke.”

“Tokosumi Aiko!”

“Maria Ichinose.”

I guess I’m in too.

“I’m Waku Takashi.”

As he said his name and touched the slate, Waku felt a chill run up his
spine. It had a strange texture, like metal but not metal; a sensation he’d
never experienced before. After his own turn, Waku helped Kozue to the
desk in her wheelchair. Over the course of the Nature School Waku had
come to be the one who looked after Kozue’s needs.

“Umm,” Kozue started nervously. “I… I can’t walk. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. As long as you have a stout heart and a love of this world,
you’re eligible to fight.”
 26

“Okay. Well, thank you.” Kozue raised her hand timidly, “Kurasaka
Kozue.”

The other children followed suit.

“Hiiragi Tsubasa.”

“Honda Chizuru.”

“Kodaka Masaru.”

“Ano Mako.”

“Komoda Takami.”

“Yoshikawa Kanji.”

They continued without incident.

“U… Ushiro Kana.”

As the slightly younger Kana moved to touch the slate, her brother
Ushiro slapped her hand away to stop her.

The room froze.

“You don’t have to do it.”

Kana silently pulled her hand back. It was obvious from Kana’s
expression on the brink of tears that Ushiro had used too much force in
stopping her.

“Why not let her? It’s silly just to leave one person out,” intervened Waku.
27

“Yeah. Kana wants to play too, right?” Tsubasa joined in, as she often
did to help Kana, but Ushiro was adamant.

“It’s none of your business!”

“Hey!”

“Okay, come on.” Kanji tried to settle things down.

Whenever any kind of quarrel erupted during Nature School it was

almost always Ushiro at the heart of it.

“I’m Kana’s guardian.”

It was indeed true that Kana, an elementary schooler, was only

permitted to attend the Nature School if her brother Ushiro looked after
her. But in reality Ushiro didn’t look after Kana at all. He left it to Tsubasa
and Mako to watch over her. Not only that, Waku had heard from
Tsubasa and Mako that he would often get angry and strike out at his
sister.

“You’re saving your poor little sister from getting into a dangerous fight?
You’re such a good brother,” commented Waku, thinking, whatever way
he takes that, so be it.

“Games you either win or lose. If I’m playing I play to win. I don’t need
her holding us back.”

The girls laughed, this time sarcastically.

“Okay, okay!”
 28

A loud voice cut through the chaotic atmosphere.

It was Maria.

“This sort of thing is more fun if we all take part. It’s the big brother’s job
to save his sister if she gets into trouble!”

Saying that, she lightly held up Kana’s arm, marched her to the desk
and held her hand to the slate before Ushiro could do anything about it.

“Ah!” Kana exclaimed.

“Oh, didn’t you want to, Kana-chan?”

“No, I did. I want to play.”

“That’s okay then. Everyone together.”

Ushiro tried to appear disinterested, but he still made the ‘contract’.

“Ushiro Jun.”

“And that’s everyone,” Maria declared.

“Now we have a collection of fourteen combatants,” the girl said,

clapping her hands together.

At that instant, by some sort of trick, the slate disappeared.

“Oh yeah,” Waku suddenly thought, “What’s your name?”

“My name? My name, yes, yes… Ma… ma… Makishima… Mayako.

Makishima Mayako. You can call me Maaya.”
29

The girl’s words somehow seemed choked.

“The contracts of the world saving heroes are complete. So, let’s start
the game. The enemy will be here quite soon.”

“Eh?” Waku exclaimed in confusion. “Aren’t we going to use these

computers?”

Don’t tell me we’ve got ourselves involved in some stupid game of tag
or something. That’d be typical of this trip.

“No. We won’t be using cheap little things like those. The game board is
this world. You are the game pieces. The stake is the fate of the Earth.
That’s the game. Brace yourselves, okay? The fight has already started.”

As she spoke the girl smiled sweetly. It was a look of satisfaction as

though she had already won the game in that instant.

What sort of a game is that?

A slight feeling of dread came over Waku. Then, Waku’s memories

abruptly end.

Nature School came to a close without much ado. The sunburnt children
filed onto the same large ferry to the mainland they’d use to get there,
and began their journey home.

It was evening.

The ferry was fairly old and there were no amusement facilities available,
so the bored children gathered in the corner of the third class dormitory
room and passed the time with trivial topics. It was coming up to the last
 30

weekday of the summer break, so there were few other passengers. The
children were the only ones on the whole floor.

The topics of discussion were wide ranging.

The potato chunks in Waku’s curry are way too big.

How did Anko survive all these years without knowing potatoes are
poisonous raw?

Mako had a camping stove and cooking time had to be measured to the
minute.

Before coming here almost all of the children were complete strangers,
but after just two weeks together the roles of the funny ones and straight
ones were already defined. As long as they didn’t fall out of their roles
their conversation could continue automatically without end.

“Shall we bet on it?”

“How would we do that? Who decides who won or lost?”

They had cheerfully divided the area into sleeping spaces but somehow
forgot about Kako. Kanji was the one coldly rubbishing Mako’s idea of
gambling for them.

Of course, to Waku it seemed that honor student Mako would use any
excuse to avoid apologizing for the basic error, but then maybe Mako
already knew that. Maybe embracing things like this and working
through them was a sign the children were becoming adults.
31

That was a good summer break, thought Waku, thinking back over the
past two weeks.

On the whale watching tour they had seen dolphins and even a sperm
whale. It was almost the start of fall when they don’t come to the surface
so they had been really lucky. It looked about 20 meters long; it was
simply enormous. Everything else too, the nature observation trips,
campsite cooking, even the feeling of skipping lessons, they had truly
enjoyed those two weeks. It had been a long time since Waku had a
summer break like that. Up to now Waku’s summers were packed with
training.

But… Waku thought.

There was no reply. School would start again in September and there
had still been no reply. If there had they could have met up already.
Honestly it was probably already too late. He thought about the time he
got mumps and was in bed for a week. Nothing for five months was too
long.

“Waku, which one?” asked Kako.

The question broke into his rambling thoughts and startled him.

“What? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Thinking… that’s not like you,” joked Kako, making everyone laugh.

Inside, Waku was a little bit vexed about the comment.

 32

I know I’m more of a physical than a mental type, but there’s no need for
that. Kako’s the one not thinking enough, he grumbled.

“What were you talking about?”

“What was that old school house about? And that mysterious cute girl…
was she for real? Doesn’t anyone else wonder about that?” Kako asked,
raising the tension.

I see. The mysterious ‘cute’ girl. She had a funny way of talking but…
the mysterious girl… Makishima Mayako, wasn’t it?

After everything they’d been through, the conversation seemed to end

up at this topic. The mysterious phenomenon they encountered during
their two weeks at Nature School. Waku and the others met the girl who
called herself Makishima Mayako, who invited them to play a game ‘to
pilot a robot, fight enemies invading the Earth and save the world,’ and
took them to a run-down old building. There, the children placed their
hands on a white slate and entered a ‘contract’ to play the game. All
fourteen of them remembered it.

But…

When the group came to, they were sleeping in the shade of a tree on
the beach. The old building and the girl were nowhere to be seen.

“It was a dream! We checked the map and there was no abandoned
school. If that old building really existed someone on the island would’ve
known about it, wouldn’t they?” said Kanji.

It’s true. We asked the islanders and there is no old school on the island.
33

But Waku clearly remembered it.

The girl took us there… to the old building. It was run-down and smelled
musty. The flickering fluorescent lights. The footsteps in the dust piled
up on the floor. Light from the monitor shone through the swirling dust.

But the time immediately before and after were hazy.

How exactly did we get there and what path did we take?

They didn’t know. Not one of them could remember. Before they knew it
they were just there.

And how did we get back? And where was that building anyway?

“Think about it. It’s the middle of summer and the island is in the sub-
tropics. Do you think the kids on that island of all places would wear a
jet black uniform? They’d die of heatstroke!”

“Maybe she came from somewhere else like us?” suggested Kako.

“That’s not really the issue though, is it? By the end everybody on the
island knew all of our faces, but none of them had ever seen this girl,”
countered Mako.

True…

Waku remembered.

The girl calling herself Makishima Mayako definitely said, ‘You guys
want to save the world?’ But when we woke up on the beach she was
nowhere to be seen. The islanders said they’d never seen her, and the
 34

idea of a girl walking around dressed in black in midsummer was enough

to make us laugh.

“I’m telling you it was a dream. A hallucination because of the heat,”

Kanji insisted.

“I can’t see how it could be. It doesn’t add up. A hallucination that real
over such a long time… every one of us should get to the hospital if
that’s what happened,” continued Kako.

A dream? Well, we had a conversation with a girl who doesn’t exist in a

building that doesn’t exist. The word dream sure seems to sum it up
quite well. Anybody would say so if you explained it to them. But even
then if so many children insisted it was real and they all remembered the
girl and the old building… Can so many people all have the same
dream? There is such a thing as a ‘group hallucination’. But this isn’t as
simple as mistaking sheets on the washing line for a ghost. Our
memories of the actual conversation we had with this Makishima
Mayako are identical. I just can’t believe hallucinations like that can
happen. What Kanji and Mako said is true. There is no old school on the
island. So, could there be some way to get off the island and back again
in such a short time? Then the conversation with the girl in the old school
is impossible.

If it’s impossible then the word dream fits perfectly. But then…

Even though some of the children, particularly Kako, strongly insisted

the girl was real, it still seemed impossible. Kako wanted to believe the
girl was real. Or rather, he wanted to believe the girl’s story was real.
35

Waku followed Kako’s thought process.

It was real exactly because it’s impossible. If it really did happen then
regardless of the girl, it must have been somewhere off the island, so it
must have been someone with the power to teleport us. But then what if
the girl’s story was real too? Enemies attacking the Earth. A giant robot
to fight them off. Even if something like that did exist they’d surely be
able to teleport as well. From Kako’s point of view it wasn’t just
impossible, it has to be real precisely because it was impossible.

Waku could find a way to agree with either side.

And so Waku came to his conclusion.

“Well, I don’t know for sure either way, but one side or the other has to
be true. But which is better? Which would I prefer to believe? I say the
version which isn’t a dream. All that about heroes fighting to save the
Earth? I’d like to give that a try, to be honest.”

He understood Kako’s feelings well. A giant robot fighting for the Earth.
It can’t exist; it doesn’t take much thinking to work that out. But if you
believe it for just a second, something in your heart starts to want it to
be true. The idea that they could pilot would be truly amazing. Waku
didn’t have the urge to insist it was absolutely true like Kako, but he
understood that feeling.

Kako will take heart if I support him.

“Exactly. You get it, don’t you, Waku? Piloting a robot and fighting — it’s
every boy’s dream.”
 36

“Robots aren’t just for boys, you know!” Mako’s rebuttal gave Kako an
opportunity, and he jumped at the chance.

“Ah! Fantastic! You get it too! So we all agree the story was real.”

“We were talking about two different things. Don’t confuse what you want
with what is logical.”

It was already past 10pm and the conversation didn’t seem like it would
end any time soon. Only one person, Ushiro, lay in the corner of the
room, declaring simply, ‘I’m not interested.’ Although, it seemed he still
wanted to know what was going on, because if he really wasn’t
interested he could have moved further away.

Then…

“Umm… when is anybody going to notice me?” A voice suddenly

descended from above. The group was startled and they looked up.

Before anyone knew it… it was floating there.

An elliptical triangular… face, I suppose. Two large bulges… ears? A

small body. What sort of weird-looking toy is this?

Waku was confused.

The unidentified object was somehow floating in the air, and even talking.

It seemed to have a strange edgeless form, in other words, weird-looking.

Thoroughly weird-looking. It was the sort of thing you see as a mascot
with a weird name on school handouts or in the empty spaces on leaflets
from small companies; the kind of definitively non-cute character drawn
37

by somebody who thinks they have some artistic talent but should in all
honesty just give up, except ten times more weird-looking.

That’s why when Waku made first contact with the thing he was more
insulted than surprised.

“What’s… that?” he said, pointing.

“A plushie for Anko to hug while she sleeps?”

“Not something as weird-looking as that!” barked Kanji, who was the real
expert on teasing Anko, without a second’s delay.

“So… she hugs a plushie while she sleeps?” added Kanji.

“How is that any of your business?” said Anko, getting worked up into
the usual quarrel.

Just a couple of minutes since first contact and they’d already forgotten
about its existence.

“Is that enough then? Is it? Is it enough now? Pilots?”

…What?

“Pilots?”

“Indeed. You made the contract, correct? That’s why I came to meet
you.”

The contract… Pilots…

 38

It was exactly the topic the children had been discussing. Was it real?
Was it just a dream? Someone — or something, anyway — had
appeared who also knew about it.

That means…

“Hey you! Does that mean you know that girl? So it really was real! We
really are going to save the Earth!” Kako’s eyes sparkled.

“First you call a person weird-looking and suchlike and then it’s ‘hey
you’? This sort of thing really is very rude.”

“Person? You mean you!” Maria took up the conversation.

“Was that a criticism? No, that is incorrect,” replied the creature.

“Then… a monkey?”

“Why a monkey?”

“It has a monkey-sort-of face.”

“Incorrect.”

“Incorrect, eh? I guess monkeys aren’t that weird-looking.”

“You are exceedingly rude you people! Are you finished? It would be
very bad if I were to lose my temper, you know. I don’t know just what
might happen!”

“So, what are you then?”

“Koyemshi.”
39

“Koe… what?”

“How rude! Ko-e-mu-shi! Koyemshi, okay? It’s Koyemshi! That’s what I

am.”

“I’m the superhero who’s going to support you people! It seems it’ll be a
long relationship with some of you and a short one with others, so tell
me now which way it’s going to be. Come on, speak up!”

The strange creature calling itself Koyemshi spoke at length with its shrill
voice. Naturally, nobody answered.

“I can’t fathom it! I’ve never seen such an attitude! Honestly, what is the
young miss thinking choosing you people?”

At that moment…

…Thud…A vibration began to shake the ship.

“Earthquake…?”

“Ah! And that would mean we’re ready to go! I must say I’m very
apprehensive about this. Ah well, you people were chosen as the latest
set. I can give you the super-quick tour I suppose. Perhaps a quick look
at the outside first?”

“At what…?”

“What? Why, the same as always of course. The plushie! The plushie!
The plushie you’ll be piloting! Or the robot or mobile suit or whatever you
prefer.”
 40

The fourteen children followed after the strange creature, Koyemshi.

Unbelievably, Koyemshi moved floating in the air, followed excitedly by
Kako. Waku took up last place as he pushed Kozue’s wheelchair,
suppressing his impatience. In actual fact, the wheelchair was motorized
and there was no need to push, but Waku felt a certain sense of duty.

I have to protect her.

That’s what he thought the first time he met Kozue.

Kako pushed open the heavy doors and they came out onto the deck.
The sea air blew into the ship. Even though it was August, it was evening
at sea and the wind was cold.

“Are you cold? Shall I get your coat?” Waku asked Kozue.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry so much. I’m not a princess.”

Koyemshi moved onto the deck and stopped abruptly in mid-air.

“That is it. That is your Puppet. The power that you will wield to save
your Earth,” it said in its piercing tone.

But there was nothing there. There was no robot to be seen.

All they could see from the deck was the jet black darkness of the night.
The children looked dubious.

“What? Where? What?” came Waku’s dumbfounded voice.

“Hey, are you trying to trick us?” Kako lashed out at Koyemshi.
41

Koyemshi floated around him as though to tease the boy, saying, “What
would I gain by doing such a thing? Look carefully. It’s over there.”

But all the children could see was an area of darkness, not even a single
star.

“There are no stars…”

That can’t be.

They were at sea, far from the lights of the city. The sky should have
been serene, filled with stars and totally clear. The Milky Way cut across
the moonlit night sky. But before their eyes its arching river was
unnaturally broken. In one section there was only the deepest darkness.

“What’s there?”

That’s it. It must be there.

The thing Koyemshi called the ‘Puppet’ must be there.

It wasn’t that the children couldn’t make it out. It was simply so enormous
that they failed to recognize it. As their eyes became accustomed to the
dark night its shape gradually revealed itself. The silhouette was
definitively human. It had two arms and two legs. But it was distorted.
The arms were long and dragged in the sea. They descended perhaps
as far as the top of the feet. It was composed of sharp angles, with
pointed protrusions all over its form. Large prominences extended from
its shoulders. It didn’t have anything to call a neck, and its head seemed
to be embedded in its torso. An armor plated upright spider. That would
 42

be the summary description. Or, as Waku instinctively put it with much

greater conciseness, “It’s massive!”

Exactly! There was no word for it but massive. The robot Waku had
imagined had been tens of meters high, about the same height as a
building, but this was nowhere close to that. It was an awesome size,
more like a mountain. It was ridiculously huge. It was so absurdly large
that it was impossible to say how large it was. Looking at it was no match
for looking at a whale. It simply boggled the mind. It made you unsteady
on your feet. It made the onlooker feel detached from reality, throwing
the normal physical senses out of order. The ship was still pushing
ahead on the ocean, so they should have been gradually getting further
away from it, but it didn’t seem to be diminishing in size at all. It was still
enormous.

“It must be 500 meters tall,” Kanji muttered in shock.

“How would you know?” asked Kodama.

“I can just tell,” came Kanji’s inscrutable answer.

At that, the children’s muttering stopped and they fell into silence.

It was simply overwhelming. Its enormity alone betrayed its power. Their
feelings were beyond being moved or shocked, they were humbled.

Such a thing, here.

“We’re… going to… pilot that thing?” Waku finally squeaked.

How could middle schoolers like us hope to control such a thing?

43

“Oh yes,” Koyemshi said chirpily. “You will use it to fight for the Earth.
Okay, let’s get going, shall we? The enemy will turn up soon so I’d better
show you around the cockpit.”

“What?”

Suddenly.

Their surroundings changed.

It was a featureless white space, and they were inside it. In front of them
was a wall, white, with an ellipse cut into it. In the cut-out was an image
of the night sky and the sea.

Not so much a window, more of a screen. But the perspective is

ridiculously high.

The sea was far away beneath them. It seemed like a perspective from
within the giant. Surrounding the elliptical screen were a dozen or so
chairs, floating in the air.

The robot’s cockpit…? Waku thought instantly, but then he noticed the
chairs were all random designs.

Aside from a few unremarkable chairs like the one he had in his own
room and a couple of rocking chairs, they were all different and yet
arranged in a neat circle.

That one…

Next to one of the chairs, a cheap-looking office chair you might see in
the staff room at a middle school, stood an unknown man. He looked to
 44

be in his late twenties and wore a suit. Perhaps it was just his unshaven
face, but he gave the impression of being exhausted.

And then, in an instant, a girl.

Maaya. Makishima Mayako.

“Hello again. Sorry for making you wait. You didn’t forget about me did
you?” said the girl, smiling at the children.

“Forget? I’ve been waiting to meet you again!” yelled Kako, clearly
excited.

“I believed you! I knew your story was real!”

Kako’s reaction was as expected. After all it was Kako who hoped more
than anyone that the girl’s story was true. His hopes were there to see
before his eyes, and on a scale even he himself didn’t imagine. The
sheer mass of the giant they’d witnessed from the ship was eloquent
proof of the irrefutable truth of the ‘game to save the world’ the girl had
talked about. Of course, Kako wasn’t the only one who was pleased. He
was just a leading member of that group.

What have we gotten ourselves involved in here?

It was an unusual circumstance to say the least. Maria and some of the
other girls looked at Maaya with critical expressions, as though trying to
discern what exactly this girl in front of them was. Komo and several of
the others seemed afraid of the giant that had appeared before them,
and looked toward Maaya in fear. Waku noticed Kozue’s worried eyes
looking up at him.
45

“It’s okay. I’m… I mean… we’re all here for you. If this really does turn
out to be something dangerous we can just quit…” he said quietly.

Kako hadn’t noticed the mood of some of the others at all.

“So what do we do? Come on, let’s get to it!”

“Hey! Don’t speak to the young miss in that way!”

“It’s okay, Koyemshi. Thank you… Kako, isn’t it? I’m happy you asked.
Well, I’d better introduce our guest. This is the Teacher who will show
you how to fight. He will take on the first battle, so pay close attention to
what he does, okay?”

“Pleased to meet you.” The man introduced as Teacher looked over the
children. His introduction was quiet and curt.

“Could you be a little more courteous?”

“No need. We’ll only meet briefly.”

“Oh, not even for your final students?”

Was she being sarcastic there?

For the first time, the beginnings of an expression were discernable on

his face. But of course, Waku didn’t recognize the emotions hidden by
that inscrutable face, a combination of anger, sorrow and exhaustion.

“It’s here.”

The Teacher turned his back on the children and sat on a nearby chair.
 46

“There!” Mako yelled.

The starry sky was visible in the elliptical window, but a single star had
vanished. Before their eyes more and more stars were enveloped by the
darkness. A hole was opening in the sky, but it didn’t seem to take any
shape. As they watched, the hole grew, and then four pointed white
towers extended down from the sky to the ocean surface. The ocean
was otherwise empty, but the towers nevertheless seemed unbelievably
huge — at least the same size as the giant robot they witnessed and
were now riding inside. Lit by moonlight, the giant white columns
reached the ocean.

Something else was coming, following them down. The children realized
the columns were legs.

“Is that… the enemy?”

“A… spider!”

The overall impression was similar to the view they’d had of their robot
from the ship. A Spider made of layered armor. The main difference was
the color. Rather than the jet black of their robot, this one was pure white.
Also, while their robot stood upright on two legs, this one stood on all
four legs. On its face were ten or so lights, giving the impression of eyes.

The night sea.

The two giants faced off above the calm waves.

The black Puppet and the white Spider.

47

“All right! Are all of our contracted heroes ready?” Maaya asked.

“Wooo!” Kako hooted.

But…

“Fight? That horrible thing?”

“Isn’t this dangerous?” Anko and Komo said almost simultaneously.

“Oh, don’t worry. This Puppet is very strong. We’re absolutely fine. If
you’re really that afraid I could return you to the ship, but honestly you’ll
be safer here.” Maaya seemed to tell them off.

“No, but… this… it was a dream! It’s some sort of trick!” Kodama
snapped, like a rabbit in the headlights. It came out more as incoherent
panic than a question.

And then…

A light flickered and the space the children were in rocked gently.

“Enough silly chatter!” the Teacher interrupted. “The enemy’s coming.

Stop talking and pay attention to how to fight.”

It’s going to be you doing this next. This isn’t some idle pastime. This is
real!”

The Teacher made his point, then fixed his eyes on the front screen.

“Right. Here we go. Let’s take it to the enemy.”

 48

The children’s eyes converged on the front screen. A horn above the
enemy’s, the Spider’s, head lit up, and suddenly a flash of lightning zig-
zagged towards them.

“Ahh!”

“No!”

A host of short shrieks were heard.

The front screen filled with flashes the same as before, again gently
rocking the room.

But…

That was all.

“What? Was that an attack?”

“Just a bluff. Okay, then…”

The children saw the attack as something of an anti-climax. But of

course they wouldn’t be saying that if they weren’t inside this oversized
monster. The attack was unquestionably one of pure destructive power.
If they had seen that giant, hundreds of meters tall, fire off such an attack
from a human perspective, they would have dropped everything and run
for their lives. But the way the attack was brushed off like a gust of wind
betrayed the absurd power of the giant they inhabited.

“Right, the lesson starts now,” said the Teacher. “The plushie — err,
that’s what we call this Puppet we pilot to fight the enemy. This plushie
also has ranged attack weapons. They look like this — attack!”
49
 50

Suddenly the wide expanse of sky in front of them was split by

uncountable straight blue lines. As the Teacher said the word ‘attack’
the beams shot out towards the Spider.

The blue beams impacted on the Spider, only to be repelled by its armor.

Ricochet. Some flew up into the sky, others dived into the ocean. The
Spider seemed unmoved.

“Just like us, this thing has thick armor. A trifling attack like this won’t be
able to pierce it. The firing weapons are basically a screen.”

As though in response to his words, the giant took a single step forward.

“Wha… it moved!”

“There’s no special trick to making it move. You just think walk and it
walks.”

The giant advanced towards the enemy. Again, a zig-zag of lightning

flashed towards them. Again, the dull vibration rocked the room. Komo
let out a short shriek and held Mako. The Teacher seemed oblivious to
the state of the children, and continued his explanation.

“Firing attacks are almost never a decisive blow for either side.”

The Puppet walked right up to the Spider.

“So…”

The black giant raised its long, sharp, needle-like arms.

51

“…you tear off their armor by force!”

It struck!

The enemy’s armor which had so easily repelled their lasers smashed
like porcelain. The sharp, piercing arms stabbed deep into the Spider.
The action was followed by a noise. It echoed deep in its abdomen. It
was a low and extremely heavy noise, almost a vibration. It was the 500
meter giant’s attack breaking through the sound barrier!

Then the left arm began to rise. Another attack slammed down. Another.
Shards of the crumpled armor came away, chasing the right arm as it
pulled back.

“A… amazing…” Waku murmured quietly in shock.

It was overwhelming. That was power. Pure power.

A righteous giant robot fighting for the earth.

For Waku those words conjured up a vision of piloting some sort of

cutting edge technology equipped with laser beams and missiles,
heroically fighting with brightly colored beams like in the movies. But the
scene unfolding in front of them couldn’t be more different. The enemy’s
lightning attacks and the giant’s screening lasers certainly looked
impressive, but they were like child’s play compared to this power. There
was nothing showy or beautiful about repeatedly raising an arm and
striking it down. It couldn’t be more straightforward. The enormous
weight of the arms stuck with unceasing speed. But that was all. It was
so simple. That was the essence of this dark giant’s power.
 52

And so, discussing it seemed useless. How could you possibly stop the
blows raining down from a 500 meter giant summoning all of its
strength? Strike! Strike! Another strike!

A flash!

The enemy struck out with its lightning in a vain struggle against the
attacks, trying to jump out of the way and breakaway from the embrace.
It had already lost one of its four legs, and several areas of armor had
been broken away.

“You must stay on your guard when the enemy has sustained damage.
They can regenerate. As soon as you gain the upper hand you have to
finish it.”

Again the giant advanced to close the small distance to the enemy. And
then it happened. A sound which tore up the very air.

The Teacher’s field of view darted left and right.

Then, as though prompted by the confusion, a square viewing window

opened up on top of the existing window. It showed two small luminous
points in the sky.

Stars? No, they’re moving too fast.

“This planet’s military?” the Teacher muttered. The window zoomed in

as though in response to his question to show two aircraft. Canard delta
wings with two-dimensional thrust vector nozzles. Bubble canopies
jutted out of the nose to improve pilot visibility. They were fighters
operated by both the Air Force and the Navy.
53

“Type 88s! They must have scrambled from Hyakuri Base!” screamed
Mako.

“They were probably deployed to the littoral region to escort the Sino-
Japanese-Korean Treaty ballistic missile defense test, of course on the
pretext of exercises by the US rapid reaction fleet. The Self Defense
Forces are twitchy at the moment.”

“It would be strange if they didn’t check out two giants out at sea.” Maria
added, making good use of her inside knowledge as the daughter of a
military officer, although honestly Waku and the others didn’t really
understand what she was saying.

The two fighters began a rapid descent, presumably to confirm the

existence of the giants which had suddenly appeared, and approached
the location of the fight.

“N… no, stay away!” Waku yelled without thinking.

It was certainly a risky move just from the sheer size of the giants. Had
the otherworldliness of the scene made them lose their sense of
judgment? Or maybe they knew the risks but were coming in to obtain
more information. Whichever it was the actions of the two fighters were
reckless.

The Spider fired its lightning weapon in an attempt to get away, and the
Puppet fired its lasers in response. Both were empty attacks and
ricocheted off the armor, simply lighting up the night sky. To the two
approaching fighter planes, however, the barrage was a lethal force, and
they were diving squarely into it. The ranged weapons may only have
 54

been diversions to the two giants, but to light fighter aircraft less than 20
meters in size they were deadly.

“Stop!” shouted Mako, but the Teacher didn’t even look up and again
closed the gap and fired the lasers. Then, a laser beam ricocheted off
the giant’s head and struck the center of the fuselage of one of the
fighters, turning it instantly into a small ball of flames.

“Ahh!”

“I said stop!”

A mixture of cries of terror and anger rang out.

“He can’t help it,” said Maaya, “He’s not from this planet. He doesn’t
know anything about the life or death of these people.”

“What?”

“He’s an alien?”

“He’s not human?”

Maaya’s words had turned the children’s attention to the Teacher.

“Don’t be stupid! Of course I’m human. I don’t live on this planet but I’m
just as human as any of you!”

It was the first time the Teacher seemed to assert himself.

“I’m going to show you this once. Your fight is a fight to save the earth.
You do want to protect all the people on this planet, right? Of course you
do. But the fight will be intense. If I avoid attacking here and now, I can
55

probably save that fighter plane. But that would mean letting the enemy
get away and risking losing the battle, and that would be the end for this
world. If you really want to protect the people of this world, you have to
be willing to sacrifice anyone to do it.” The Teacher spoke clearly but in
a somewhat downbeat tone.

“But that’s…”

“That doesn’t sound heroic to me!”

The children protested, but the Teacher flatly interrupted them.

“What you need to do is concentrate on how I’m fighting. If you don’t,

many, many more people will die!”

“I won’t be here next time. You’ll only have your own strength to rely on.”

“Hey, Koyemshi and I will be helping too!” said Maaya.

“I dislike it, honestly, but if the young miss says so, so be it,” added
Koyemshi.

The Teacher looked at Maaya and Koyemshi, “Don’t trust these two. Not
if you really want to save the world.”

“How mean! We went to all this trouble to find the next pilots and this is
how he repays us.”

Suddenly there was a huge crash, bigger than any of the previous ones.
The enemy had taken the opportunity of their discussion to throw itself
at them. It used its rear legs to hold on and its remaining front leg to
attack. The room shook with each blow and the children began to panic.
 56

The Teacher, however, was calm, and spoke to the children, “This is
what I was saying. If you don’t stay alert it will counterattack. One
distraction can mean defeat.

If you get the advantage, press it. No mercy. Don’t be afraid to make
sacrifices.”

A lightning attack flashed from point blank range.

The Teacher continued, “This room is in the deepest part of the Puppet,
protected by thick armor. It can’t be damaged easily, so whatever you
do…”

As he spoke the giant’s right leg kicked the enemy high into the air. It
landed, causing an explosion on the ocean surface. It rolled clumsily two
maybe three times, perhaps to absorb the impact of the fall. As it did so
its rear leg crumbled and broke away.

“Whatever you do… Bah, this one’s strong.”

Any reasonable person would say the enemy was finished. It attempted
to right itself using its remaining two legs, but it didn’t seem able to
continue the fight.

“We did it! We finished it off! It’s down!” Kako yelled excitedly.

The Teacher turned to Kako. Waku noticed an inscrutable but complex

expression on the Teacher’s face. Kako was stopped in his tracks.

Did I say something wrong? It looks like I did…

57

The Teacher returned his gaze to the window. “I see.” He sighed deeply.
“Let’s finish this.”

The dark giant advanced towards the Spider, which was still firing its
ineffective lightning attack.

“This is the finisher. Watch carefully.”

He kicked the enemy again, flipping it on its back like a stranded turtle
before drilling a jet black arm into its exposed underbelly.

“They have what we call a critical zone.” He ripped the armor away sheet
by sheet. “The location depends on the enemy.” He skillfully
disassembled — dissected — the enemy. “You can never be sure where
it is, but…”

Finally.

“It’s generally deep within the body, buried under countless layers of
armor… Found you!”

He used the giant’s three fingers to take hold of a spherical object,

something like a bulb with a shell, from deep in the abdomen.

“Find it.” A light shone from the end of the finger.

“And smash it.” A multitude of laser beams shot out and destroyed the
object. The slits on the enemy’s head went dark. It seemed like the
finishing blow. It had ceased to move completely.

“We did it!”

 58

“Wow!”

The children cheered.

“You did it!” applauded Kako.

But the Teacher didn’t show any sign of being pleased whatsoever. He
showed no interest in Kako, and simply scanned each of the chairs, as
though confirming each one. For some reason he looked at Waku with
particular sorrow. Finally, he let out a deep sigh and said, “That’s it. My
job is done.”

A husk, Waku thought. The Teacher somehow seemed to shrink into

himself, as though he’d actually lost everything in the fight.

“Now it’s your turn. You’ll protect your own world.”

“All right, let’s do it!” said Waku, raising his voice as though to cheer the
Teacher’s spirits.

He didn’t answer.

There was a long silence.

“Y… you…” The words left his mouth with a long breath.

“…ta…” But the group never got to hear the rest.

The man abruptly disappeared, leaving only the chair he was sitting on,
nothing more. Nothing of him remained.

“His role is now complete,” said Maaya coldly. “Now, you must have
seen this on TV or in manga: an ancient lone hero protecting the earth.
59

He fought tirelessly for the earth, but finally reached his limit when
fighting a powerful enemy, so he gives himself to protect the earth, and
passes his power on to another.

To youthful heroes overflowing with altruism, children who can carry the
burden of this planet. That’s you.” Maaya looked over the children as
she spoke. “The fate of the world hangs on you.”

The words rang heavily.

It makes sense, Waku thought. The Teacher piloted this giant — the
Puppet — and easily brought down the Spider. But could anyone else,
other than the Puppet, really have done the same? Even that military
fighter was shot down before it even got close. Would a nuclear bomb
affect it? Maybe even that wouldn’t touch it. There probably isn’t another
thing on Earth other than the thing we’re inside of now, other than us,
who can protect the world. Didn’t the girl in the old school house say
there were fourteen enemies left? Can we really do it… save the world?

As though sensing their hesitation, Maaya continued, “Don’t worry. The

Puppet has power.”

Power.

“Yes, without power everything would vanish. Without power there is

nothing. Power is the sole absolute truth in this fight.”

“Well, well, well. Young miss, I have no more time to trouble myself with
these humble proceedings. See, we have more curious onlookers.”

A new light had appeared in the front window.

 60

A metallic roar filled the air. Another air force fighter had arrived.

A Type 41 fighter. It was an old F-15J from the US-Japan Security Treaty.
They were known as the supreme masters of the skies for over thirty
years, operating under the US rules of engagement, but were now
dismissed as over the hill. Regardless, Japan had modernized the model
and they were still used in active service.

“We don’t really want to attract attention. Let’s call an end for today.

I’ll take these back to the ship.”

“Good,” Maaya nodded. “Well, we’ll meet again.”

Then, before anyone knew it, they were standing on the deck of the boat,
above them the cloudless night sky, and ahead just the quiet ocean,
nothing more.

“That… was real, wasn’t it?” Waku muttered.

Nobody could answer him.

The hand holding the back of Kozue’s wheelchair still had a clammy
sweat.

Daikatsumaru No. 1 was the second of two super cargo and passenger
ferries which had operated since before the millennium as a lifeline
connecting the archipelago 1,500km south of Tokyo to the mainland. It
took around 24 hours from the mainland to the island group.

Higher speed TSL craft were considered at the beginning of the century,
but the large, high speed vessels made possible by the technology had
61

the potential for adaption to military use, so in order to preserve

international relations with other Asiatic countries they never came to
fruition. The ferry was built over 30 years ago, but was due to continue
the island to mainland service for some time yet.

It was a full moon on a summer night when the Daikatsumaru

encountered a strange storm.

In the middle of a tranquil voyage with a perfectly clear sky a tempest

suddenly rose from the sea. The ship was shaken and jolted for about
an hour. The forecast had been for calm seas, and the crew initially put
it down to an earthquake, that is, until the turmoil continued for such a
long time.

The truth is there was a minor earthquake at exactly that time, but one
lasting an unnaturally long time. Not only that, a shallow location on the
route of the Daikatsumaru was at the epicenter. But that couldn’t
possibly have caused the unprecedented tsunami that assaulted the
ship.

Although the impact was light, it was enough to damage a lot of

equipment and furnishings on the vessel. Of course, well-secured
internal furnishings did occasionally get damaged when the ship
suffered a storm, but this storm was just somehow much fiercer. One
crewman joked that, “It was as though giant monsters were fighting right
by the ship.”

In the end there were no injuries, so the crew quickly went back to their
day-to-day tasks and forgot about the incident. It was about a month
later when Yamanobe Isao, the Captain of the Daikatsumaru No. 2, was
 62

called to the president’s office. Yamanobe was a veteran who served on

a previous incarnation of the vessel, and was a generation older than
the current president. Despite being the head of a shipping company,
the president suffered badly with seasickness and Yamanobe had been
forced to nurse him in his pre-captain days. Even now, the president was
unable to stand up to Yamanobe.

A man and woman unfamiliar to Yamanobe were also present in the

president’s office, but there was no sign of his usual private secretary.
The two introduced themselves as Naval Lieutenant Masamitsu Seki
and Air Captain Misumi Tanaka. Before Yamanobe could even wonder
what uniformed forces wanted with him, they began to explain.

He mustn’t ever say anything about the strange storm on the night of the
full moon. If he were to reveal it they would have to take action in the
interest of national defense.

Their tone was courteous, but the threat was clear. Defying them would
not be a good idea. It was clear that since the abolition of the US-Japan
Security Treaty — something which seemed impossible in his youth,
absolutely unimaginable — the military were up to something in that area
of ocean.

“People don’t need to know about my world, sometimes it’s better for
them not to know.”

Yamanobe made light of agreeing to their requests. He swore on the

sea and his dead mother. He thought the conversation would end there,
but the pair continued, asking about 14 children on board his ship that
day, and whether he noticed anything about those children.
63

“Children…?”

“Yes, on that day your ship carried children returning from a school trip
on the island. And that evening was the storm.”

“There were no injuries to any passengers, the crew made sure of that,
but I do know that they couldn’t find those children at the time.”

They weren’t swept overboard, he wondered, suddenly frozen in fear.

The children said they’d been playing hide and seek on the ship, but it
does seem strange that an experienced crew with ten years’ experience
on the ship couldn’t find them. Where on earth were they? He
remembered being concerned about the issue.

But inside the ship everything was in chaos, so I just dismissed those
concerns over time.

Why are these military types coming to me to ask these things? I know
that sometimes it’s better for a person like me not to see and not to know
certain things, but what connection could there be to those
children? Yamanobe couldn’t get his head round it.

If only Yamanobe could have looked at some of the documents held by

the female officer, Air Captain Tanaka — of course, that would be
impossible — those doubts might have been addressed a little. One
page, for example, went as follows…

Communications Log

Department Restricted
 64

First Lieutenant Iwasaki (Call sign: Peekaboo2, below

P2): “This is Peekaboo2. Remaining unknown object has
disappeared! Repeat disappeared!”

Controller: “We have also lost visual on both objects.

By disappeared do you mean the unknown object has
moved?”

P2: “Negative. It vanished in the same way it

appeared.”

Controller: “Vanished? Are you sure about that?”

P2: “How would I lose track of something that big? I

don’t get it but it just disappeared like out of the
movies.”

Controller: “So both have disappeared?”

P2: “That’s a negative. They were fighting and one

defeated the other, then the winner disappeared. No,
hold… there’s no debris. The debris of the defeated
object has also disappeared. The unknown objects are
no longer here. Requesting a rescue ship for Peekaboo
Leader.”

Controller: “On its way. Can you confirm whether

Peekaboo Leader escaped?”

P2: “Negative. I cannot confirm.”

65

Waku couldn’t sleep.

Waku and the others had returned to the ship to find it in turmoil. They
tried to find out what happened from the crew and were told that a
sudden storm erupted in the calm night, that they first thought it might
be an earthquake but it didn’t quite add up. They said even some crew
were seasick and expressed amazement at how the children were so
calm. Waku gave the excuse that they were very well disciplined.

But… Waku knew the real cause.

It was those things fighting — of course that would stir up the sea.

Mako claimed it was a hallucination, even after all that had happened.

It’s like she’s trying to convince herself. But it really did happen. It was
all real.

And so Waku couldn’t sleep. He left the dormitory to avoid waking the
others, although he could sense that the others were just resting and
couldn’t sleep either.

He stepped out onto the deck and watched the tranquil night sea. The
islands where they’d spent the summer were already out of sight, and
the mainland was still far away.

Then he noticed someone else was also on deck. It was Tsubasa. She
was talking on her cellphone.
 66

“Yes, okay. Yes, everything was fine. I get back tomorrow… Okay. Say
hi to Nagi-kun. Okay, goodnight.”

Ah, she’s just finishing the call.

She hung up and was putting the cellphone away when she noticed
Waku.

“Waku-kun, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt you?”

“No, I was just finished. No problem.”

“You’re always on the phone, on the island as well. Is it your boyfriend?”

“No! Just a friend.”

“But it’s a guy, right? Are guys who specially call really just friends?”

“W… what sort of phrase is that? It’s like my dad, always saying that
getting close to boys will lead to trouble. You sounded just like him. Why
are you playing the protective father?”

“Oh! Umm… I didn’t mean to… I mean… Are you serious?” Waku was
confused.

Tsubasa started to laugh, most likely at the state Waku had got himself
into.

“I thought Kodama was the only one with a cellphone,” Waku remarked
purely out of curiosity.
67

The Hino Report.

US Forces evacuated from Japan when the US-Japan Security Treaty

was repealed. After that the Sino-Japanese Security Treaty was signed
almost immediately. This incident had a definitive influence on the
current state of geopolitics in Asia, not only international affairs, but a
whole range of domestic issues, large and small. One of those is
cellphones.

In the events described in the Hino Report, Japan, which had relatively
low security awareness, was hit by a large-scale cyber-attack. National
communications networks were wiped out in a flash. The economic
damage was in the tens of trillions of yen. It was rumored to be a
retaliation by the US, but the full story wasn’t known. The incident led to
intense security measures being placed on communications. It was
suddenly impossible to access the internet, for example, without
authenticating your national ID number and biometrics, meaning there
was no degree of anonymity whatsoever. The IT industry was set back
to the level of the late 20th century. As a result, while not outlawed
completely, one of the things which became a rarity was cellphones.
Acquiring one meant fighting through a complex procedure from stage
one, initial document checks, to stage five, the face-to-face interview,
and all in all it took about six months before it was in your hand. On top
of that, charges were absurdly high, and content was rumored to be
constantly monitored by the National Defense Forces. So, even some
adults didn’t have them, and they were never allowed into children’s
hands.
 68

“Well, there are special circumstances with this friend. It’s not like I’m
allowed one for nothing. Anyway, what about you? Aren’t you tired? “

Tsubasa brusquely diverted the conversation.

“Yeah… but I just can’t sleep.”

Waku was the kind of boy who easily got caught up in things.

“I guess I’m still over-excited. Like before a match, it was always like this.
Well, this is even worse.”

“Match? Oh, you were in the soccer team, weren’t you?”

“I was good!” Waku lit up at the new topic. “The best regular in history.”

“Cool. Popular with the girls?”

“Err, well…”

The unexpected line of questioning blocked him just as he was looking

forward to bragging about his technique.

“Well, yeah. I guess. I don’t know to be honest. I never really thought

about it. I had lots of friends who were girls but I always preferred the
soccer.”

“Wow, other guys are definitely going to hate you when you get older.
Definitely. I guarantee it. If I’m wrong you can have the cellphone.”

“What, that? It’s fingerprint protected anyway — I wouldn’t be able to

use it.”
69

“Are you crazy? Well, anyway, it’s true. Girls always prefer guys that
don’t show they’re interested. You have to feel sorry for people like
Kako-kun, always trying so hard. It’s probably fine normally but Chizu-
chan won’t bite. Well, what does it matter? Chizu-chan prefers older
guys anyway.”

“Kako? What?”

“Yeah, that’s what you’re like. It’s going to be hard for your future
girlfriend. Wait… you… you didn’t notice — you must be the only one —
that Kako-kun is hot for Chizu-chan?”

“Ah!” Waku’s jaw dropped as he put it together. “Of course! That’s why
they’re always together.”

“You really only noticed now?”

“I noticed now.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Tsubasa let out an exaggerated sigh, “You’re so slow, Waku-kun…”

 70

“Hold on, you don’t have to be that shocked. How could I work that out
just because they hang around together?”

“If they’re always together you just know.”

“You don’t, not normally. You’re the slow one — reading too much into
what guys and girls do. You’re like a gossiping aunt!”

“That’s not true at all. I saw nothing. I said nothing. Okay, I take it back.”

“Take what back?”

“That you were popular with girls. You know, the first three days or so
the girls were all following you around, but you’re the type to lose
interest.”

“What do you mean? I… I don’t, I mean… I don’t think I… Why are we

even having this conversation? I’m not even that bothered about girls.”

Tsubasa let out another exaggerated sigh.

“It must be hard for Kozue-chan as well.”

“What?” Waku hadn’t expected her name to come up. “Why are you
mentioning Kozue?”

“Hmm, can I ask you one more question?” asked Tsubasa, making a
comic confused expression.

“Ok.”

“Do you like Kozue-chan?”

71

What?

Do you like Kozue-chan?

The question swam around Waku’s head.

“I… I’m sorry? W… why?”

Why would she even ask me that? And why has it got me in such a flap?

“Well, you’re always together.”

Hearing it aloud, Waku realized it was true. It was just like with Chizu
and Kako.

Me and Kozue probably spend more time together than anyone out of
the group, Waku thought for the first time. Why do I spend so much time
with Kozue? Why do I want to protect Kozue? Maybe it’s something to
do with why I joined the Nature School in the first place.

“Well…” started Waku.

“Yes?”

“It’s a bit of a long story…”

“That’s okay.” Tsubasa noticed a change in Waku’s tone. “Come on,

answer.”

Waku thought.
 72

Where do I start? I’m no good at this — putting my thoughts in order and

explaining things. I guess I’ll have to start with soccer. That’s the center
of everything.

“Well, when I started at middle school I quit soccer.”

“Oh, why?”

“I needed time to think.

When I entered the club it was hard work. The training was strict and
there was a lot of new stuff to learn, but at some point I realized I was
good at it. I still am. The thing was there was someone who just couldn’t
do what I found so easy. At first I thought he wasn’t taking it seriously or
he wasn’t training enough, but eventually I realized it wasn’t that. I
realized that some people just couldn’t do what I could do. It’s an awful
thing to say but I have a talent that other people don’t have. It’s horrible
to say, I know.”

Waku remembered entering the soccer club with his childhood friend.
They swore to get in the regular team and lead them to victory. That’s
how it was going to be. But while Waku entered the regular team as early
as the fourth grade, his friend was still sitting on the subs bench in the
sixth.

I guess I just don’t have what you have, Waku-kun.

That was when Waku quit.

“So, it made me think. There are probably people who can easily do
things that I could never do. I started thinking it was strange that I could
73

kick a ball, place a pass exactly where I wanted it, or pick one up right
in front of the goal. How come I can do those things but other people
can’t? What’s the difference between people who can’t do it and me?
Even though I wanted to be a pro, I wondered how long it would be
before I turned into the person who couldn’t handle it anymore.”

Waku thought about his father, a mediocre, stereotypical Japanese

salaryman. Back in sixth grade during spring cleaning Waku found one
of his father’s old photo albums. He had been to the soccer national
selection tournament during elementary school.

He was a forward just like me. They called him the bolt from the blue.
He doesn’t talk about it now; he’s just crazy about baseball. What was it
that happened to him? Maybe the same thing that happened to me…
Maybe that day came…

“Maybe I was scared… I know soccer took everything out of me. I

mean… It’s not that I wanted to find myself, I just wanted to be away
from it for a while, from soccer. I wanted to decide what I really wanted
to do. So I quit soccer… and came here.”

And met Kozue.

“Kozue… when I met her…”

Waku started to think about Kozue. Why do I spend so much time with
Kozue? His thoughts wouldn’t settle.
 74

“I mean… Things that I take for granted, she can’t do at all. I just couldn’t
let that alone. I could somehow do so well at sports, so I wanted to
protect someone who’s less able.”

Is that right? Is that really what I think? If it’s just because she can’t walk,
aren’t I the same as Komo?

She felt anemic and had to rest a few times during the Nature School.
So, why Kozue? Words are too superficial. I just don’t have the words to
describe it.

There was silence for a moment.

“I see.” Tsubasa seemed to have understood something, and her

comment had a hint of disappointment about it.

After another gap in the conversation, Tsubasa asked, “Waku-kun, do

you want to hear about me?”

“Yeah, ok.” The night wind was chilly and hid the flush that the
conversation had brought to Waku’s face.

“I have two childhood friends, both boys,” Tsubasa began. “We lived
next to each other in community housing. It’s always been the three of
us. One is a real sports guy like you, and the other is more the bookish
type, like a nice version of Ushiro-kun.”

“A nice version of Ushiro?”

That’s like comparing black with white, thought Waku.

75

“Heh. He’s so clever, and kind. I thought I’d always want us to be

together, but gradually I’ve come to think that might be difficult.”

“Why?”

“…Because both of them like me.”

“So you’re popular too! The other girls must hate you.”

“Don’t poke fun! I don’t know which I like more, which I should choose,
or if I do choose how our relationship will change. I had to deal with all
of that but still pretend everything was normal between the three of us.
But then, last year, one of them collapsed. He had a problem with his
heart.”

Waku was taken aback.

“It was serious and he had to have a heart transplant straight away. He
wouldn’t have survived for many years without it. Who knows whether
he’s still okay while I’ve been away.”

“So, what about the cellphone?”

“Yeah, it’s for emergencies. Although, I don’t know what exactly would
count as an emergency… Being out in the island, I know I wouldn’t be
able to go running if my friend took a turn for the worse, but I think being
in touch would help him.”

“I see…” Waku couldn’t find the words. “He’s your boyfriend?” he asked,
embarrassed.
 76

“Well,” Tsubasa replied cheerfully, trying to break the mood, “that’s the
problem. Which one should I go out with?”

“Hmm… that puts me on the spot a little.”

“Okay, maybe. If I ask myself which one I have to protect, which one
needs me the most, of course it’s the one with the heart problem. The
other guy’s cute and clever and he’ll definitely find someone much nicer
than me. That’s not true for the sick one. But, would he really be happy
if we got together for that reason?”

“I guess not,” Waku answered uncomfortably, “it sounds like he wouldn’t.”

“Why?”

Waku desperately searched for the words, “He… probably… I think he’d
prefer you to like him as him, rather than as the guy with the heart
problem.”

“Yeah, I think so too. You see now how you have to think hard about
stuff?”

“Think…”

Oh, about Kozue? But I really don’t know. I mean, I don’t have enough
words for how I feel about her. I want to protect Kozue… I like Kozue…
There’s such a range of feelings between those two.

But Waku couldn’t put a name to them. It was utterly frustrating.

The answer will come sooner or later.

77

“So, do you think what happened today was real?” he asked, returning
to the same discussion yet again. The 500 meter robot. The black giant
and the white spider.

“Yeah… at first I felt sorry for Kako-kun and I thought it was a dream.
But now I believe it. It must have been real.”

“I was so hyped up! To be a hero trying to save the world! Does that
make me a brat?”

“Hmm, I wonder…” Tsubasa laughed.

“Heh. I knew you believed it. But, you know, I didn’t find what I was
looking for on the island — what I want to do, something I can do. But
now, I think I might be able to find it. What I really, actually want to do.”
Waku spoke as though persuading himself to do it.

“Aren’t you scared?” asked Waku.

“Yeah, of course. But if it was real, a real fight to save the world, wouldn’t
the job of that girl Maaya normally be left to an adult? And why are we
being asked to do this? Is there some special reason this has been left
to us? We were chosen. That’s why we’re doing it. It sounds to me like
we’re the only ones who could do it.”

Chosen. That’s right, we were chosen.

Soccer.

Kozue.

This fight.
 78

My own future.

Waku’s head overflowed with thoughts.

What am I going to do from now on? Become a pro soccer player? A

hero saving the world? Or maybe something else entirely?

And… what about marriage… what if… maybe start a family… with
Kozue?

And what then?

There are too many ifs, too many possibilities! That might be a good
thing but it’s so… overwhelming!

“Aaaaaaarrrrgghhh!” Waku screamed with all his might. The pressure of

all the expectations and anxieties seethed out of him. The noise was
absorbed by the night sea. Tsubasa stared at the new Waku in shock.

“Aaaaaaarrrrgghhh!”

Waku continued to scream.

“Waku-kun, did you call my name?”

Startled by Kozue’s question, Waku paused to reflect.

Dawn was coming. The sea was a dark cloudy color. Skyscrapers were
visible on the mainland. They were home. The ship came alongside into
port. The children moved onto the deck and prepared for disembarkation.
As usual Waku was pushing Kozue’s wheelchair.
79

How long has it been since I stayed up all night? It must be before I
joined the regular team. From then on, lack of sleep would have been
unforgivable. Being in the team wasn’t exactly carefree.

The robot.

My future.

And… Kozue…

“What? No, no, I don’t think so.”

For a moment he couldn’t talk normally with Kozue. His mind was
focused on the conversation with Tsubasa the day before.

Do you like Kozue-chan?

When he thought about it, Kozue was very pretty.

Why didn’t I notice before? Maybe I did call her name without thinking
just now.

“Okay. Maybe it wasn’t your voice. I probably misheard.” Either Waku’s

frantic denial had succeeded or Kozue had agreed to drop it.

“Oh, it’s dad!” Some people were standing and waving at Kozue. One
stood upright wearing branded sports clothes — from Waku’s point of
view, a ‘cool uncle’ kind of figure.

“Who’s meeting you?” asked Kozue.

“Oh, I’ll head back on my own.”

 80

“Oh, right.

Do you have a few minutes? I want you to meet my dad.”

“Oh! Well, I have… err…”

“Oh, what?”

Waku was suddenly so aware of his relationship with Kozue, and with
her father there too he was unable to act normally.

“Thank you for looking after Kozue. We’d be delighted to have you visit
us any time.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you, yes.”

“We don’t live so far away from each other. Come and visit, okay?”
added Kozue.

“Yeah, sure.”

Throughout the encounter, Waku had the feeling he’d met Kozue’s
father somewhere, but he never discovered the reason for the feeling of
deja vu, and they went their own ways home. It was two weeks later,
when reading his monthly soccer magazine that Waku came across the
answer to what had been troubling him. His passion for soccer hadn’t
waned even a little. He was flicking through a section on ‘former greats’
when he suddenly yelled, “I’ve got his autograph!”

It was Kozue’s dad! He’s a former pro soccer player who now manages
a university veteran team.
81

Next time I see Kozue I’ll definitely get her to introduce me. I’ll get his
signature. Waku was determined.

Quite apart from Waku’s newfound desire, he and Kozue would be

meeting much sooner than they expected.
82
83

Kozue Kurasaka was in the middle of elementary school when she

began her life in a wheelchair. She fell from a tree in the playground
trying to retrieve a stuck ball. At the time Kozue had been crazy for
indoor soccer, cheered on by her dad. Active children at that age want
to experience everything, and Kozue made one little slip up. But that
unlucky blow meant the wheelchair would always be with her.

Of course, losing the use of your legs means there’s a lot you can’t do.
But Kozue never — at least hardly ever — stopped to lament her
misfortune. Instead Kozue was thankful for her good fortune. If she’d
been born a hundred years earlier her disability would have been a much
greater burden. Two or three hundred years later and perhaps someone
like her wouldn’t have been born.

It was two weeks since Nature School and Kozue was settled back into
her normal daily life.

1:15 PM.

Kozue finished her lunch in the first floor dining room and took the
elevator to the ground floor. She said farewell to her mom and left the
house. Except for the stairs, the floors in Kozue’s house were completely
flat. Even with the wheelchair she could generally cope on her own.
There were high taxes on petrol engines thanks to global warming and
environmental regulations, so most vehicles were powered with electric
motors. Kozue’s wheelchair was one of the side benefits of those smaller
and more efficient fuel cells.

The top speed — for use only in emergencies — was 30km/h, making it
less a motorized chair and more like a car in the shape of a chair. The
 84

fuel cell could even be charged at charging points in town, so Kozue

could recharge right there in the street. The streets of Japan before
Kozue was born were constantly torn up with utilities, often just to use
up local authority budgets at the end of each year, and buckled
pavements were the norm. The bumps and cracks were no problem for
pedestrians, but for those in wheelchairs they presented a huge obstacle.
Now, legislation meant paths are wide enough for Kozue to pass, and
they were so flat even a ball placed on the ground wouldn’t roll away. All
in all Kozue’s life wasn’t so dissimilar to that of fully mobile people. The
nearest station was close enough to reach on foot — or at a similar
speed in the wheelchair. The ticket gates were wide enough to allow
even Kozue’s slightly larger wheelchair to pass. The platform could be
reached by elevator.

The train slid into the station.

The gap between the train and the platform was no more than a
centimeter, the step no more than two, and of course a space for
wheelchair users was available in the lead carriage. Because of all this,
Kozue considered that living with her disability involved no more effort
and strife than anyone else. At times Kozue was deeply grateful for this
fact. This was an age in which someone like her could take part in a
Nature School on an isolated island. Of course she felt sorrow at the
loss of use of her legs, but the whole country was set up to allow people
like her to live their own lives. That isn’t to say she didn’t have
inconveniences, but then nobody has it perfect. People who look healthy
at a glance have to live with all manner of difficulties. It was the
85
 86

excessive fretting over her all-too-visible handicap that was much more
to her distaste.

What does it matter in the end, losing the use of my legs? I can do lots
of things. And there are lots I want to do.

That was her attitude. Or… perhaps some of it was just a face. As the
train rolled on, Kozue was lost in thought.

Last night… I finally heard Waku-kun’s voice again. I only rang to check
the number he gave me was right. Takashi Waku — the boy from
the Nature School who took care of me.

Even on a remote island far from the mainland everything was arranged
to support the daily needs of people with disabilities. But there would
always be some things Kozue couldn’t do. When everyone went to
splash in the sea Kozue could only watch from the side-line. It was the
kind of thing Kozue had to be pressured into anyway — which just made
the boys all the more keen to persuade her — although she didn’t exactly
resist. In times like these it was always Waku that stayed by her side for
company. He was a forward in the soccer team in elementary school.
Actually, even though he seemed the type to be constantly on the move,
whenever Kozue found herself alone he was always by her side.

And so they ended up talking to each other a lot — mainly about their
times back in the soccer team. Waku would also push the wheelchair
and look after her, but it was the fact he was there at all that made Kozue
happy.
87

“I still haven’t finished my homework!” Waku blurted as soon as he

answered Kozue’s call.

Well, he did keep slipping away whenever there was a break

in classes at the NatureSchool.

Now Kozue had called he realized how little of the summer break was
left and began to panic.

“You’ve only yourself to blame.”

“Yeah, I know…”

“But can you write that in kanji?”

“Umm… not really…”

Kozue was more the serious type and had finished her homework before
Nature School started. Her grades were good and she was thinking of
applying to a high school with links to a private college.

“Please help. I don’t get classics. Help me out Kozue-san.”

“Help me out Kozue-sama, don’t you mean?”

“Help me Kozue-sama.”

“Good. Now say it three times.”

“Help me Kozue-sama. Help me Kozue-sama. Help me Kozue-sama.”

“Turn round three times and bark.”

“…Woof.”
 88

“…Did you really turn?”

And with that, despite totally neglecting his homework so far, Waku was
finally guided through two hours of strict lessons on classics. “What’s so
interesting about the Tale of Genji anyway?” Waku moaned, and Kozue
offered to lend him the shoujo manga version. “I’ll come over and see
you soon,” he said afterwards.

It would be good fun to see Waku-kun again.

“But only when you’ve finished the homework.”

It seemed like the call was over. Then Waku broached a new subject,
“Oh, which reminds me… Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ah!

“Your dad was a soccer player?”

He found out.

This was what Kozue couldn’t tell him. Kozue’s dad was a genuine pro
soccer player. While not such a famous player today, a soccer pundit
would probably have heard of him. An unsung hero — that might be the
right phrase. Even now he sometimes helps out coaching clubs or
college teams to support his family. The house with its elevator and all
manner of other enhancements, were all thanks to him.

“What does your family do, Kozue?”

Two weeks of Nature School was really such a short time.

89

That was how Waku first brought up the subject. But for some reason
Kozue answered, “Oh, a normal office worker.” Waku wasn’t the only
person she hid things from. Disembarking the ferry, Waku stayed with
Kozue right to her lift home. As they drove home, naturally Kozue’s dad
asked about him.

“Who was that kid?”

Such a silly question.

“A boy that looked after me.”

“He seems like a sporty type.”

Dad was sure to notice from Waku’s build.

“Yeah, he said he plays baseball.”

Again, Kozue played with the truth. She had to hide the fact he played
in the soccer team because that would pique dad’s interest.

“What is it? Kozue?” Waku seemed concerned.

“Oh, nothing. Well, just that I thought it would surprise you so I didn’t say,
and then there was never a chance to tell you.”

“Why do that? You’re so mean, Kozue.”

“I’m sorry. When you come to visit I’ll introduce you. I’m sure dad will be
pleased as well.”

Somehow she’d managed to smooth things over.

 90

The train stopped. The doors silently opened and the summer heat
gushed into the car.

It was the middle of the day and only a few people were in the car.
Nobody was waiting to board.

Why? Kozue asked herself. Why didn’t I want Waku-kun to know about
dad? Why didn’t I want dad to know about Waku? I was afraid, she
realized. But of what? Of me not being needed any more. By whom?
Neither of them will need me. If I tell Waku about my dad then Waku
won’t be interested in me anymore. Or? If I tell my dad about Waku then
my dad won’t be interested in me anymore. What my dad really wants is
a lively, healthy boy like Waku. Surely Waku really wants to hang out
with other people, not just sit around with me.

Somehow this was all she’d been able to think about since the previous
night.

I’m just being paranoid, she knew full well.

Like her father always said, “Don’t obsess about my job. You have to
live your own life.”

I know he’s right. At Nature School Waku-kun was always at my side

laughing and joking. I know he can’t be any other way. …The problem
is me.

Takashi Waku: boy, athletic, bright personality, some rough edges and
lacking in various areas, but so very kind.
91

“What do you think of Waku-kun?” the girls at the Nature School used to
ask.

If I had to say like or dislike, I guess I like him.

But the question tormented Kozue.

My feelings about Waku aren’t really about liking, more… aspiration.

He’s everything I want to be.

To be born as a boy, to have no disability, no worries, to live positively.

Perhaps… it isn’t that I like Waku, but that I want to be Waku?

Somehow she couldn’t shake the question from her head.

As she was wrestling with the issue the train arrived at her stop. She left
the train and passed through the ticket gate. Her destination was a work
facility for people with mental disabilities called “Fureai Pan Studio
Sunflower (note: sounds like “Frying Pan Studio Sunflower” but means
“Community Baking Studio Sunflower”). They sell bread made from low-
pesticide Japanese wheat to public and educational institutions across
the prefecture and its cities.

Kozue usually volunteered two days a week. Having said that, the actual
baking of the bread requires particular skill, so Kozue wasn’t allowed
anywhere near that. Kozue’s job was typically making price tags and
signs, or routine tasks like clerical work. The facility was run by the city’s
NPO group. Kozue got involved after her father heard it had been set up
and made a substantial donation.

She entered the building.

 92

The room was brightly lit in a clean, uniform light. The aroma of baking
bread floated on the air. They made more than 30 types of bread. This
place was the real deal. It was the equal of any bakery in town. The
person in charge had spent many years overseas working in baking.
Their classical French breads were one of the specialties of local
upscale restaurants, and of course Kozue’s daily breakfast.

“Bread in support of people with disabilities.” Kozue designed the leaflet

along with her colleagues, which meant she’d had to compromise with
the message. Without the message it would just be normal, good value,
delicious bread.

Kozue noticed two strangers in the facility: a middle aged man and a
younger man with a rough but smart appearance. He was carrying a
camera.

Of course. The local press is coming to cover us today, Kozue

remembered. As soon as Kozue realized who they were, they in turn
noticed her.

Snap. The camera went off without as much as a hello. A member of the
facility staff briefly introduced Kozue, explaining she was a regular
volunteer.

Just then the younger man who seemed to be the photographer gave a
simple “Hi” hardly worthy of calling a greeting, and rudely circled round
Kozue clicking away at the camera. A photo of a young girl volunteering
at the facility would probably end up making the article. Kozue knew how
things like that worked. The suited reporter asked a few simple questions.
93

They were the kind of standard questions intended to elicit the answer
the reporter wanted.

What do you think of the facility? I think it’s a wonderful place.

How is the bread they make here? I think it’s delicious.

And finally he summed up by saying, “Doing this even though you’re

disabled, you’re an inspiration.”

Always the same words. But Kozue despised those words.

Is it really my disability that makes volunteering here worthwhile? Of

course not. So why does everyone see my legs and nothing else?

Why does everybody say that to me? “Doing this even though you can’t
walk, you’re amazing.” Why not talk about the things I’ve done? What
sort of person am I that only my useless legs get mentioned? It feels like
I’m trapped and bound by them. Just about everything wants to box me
in. “A girl in a wheelchair did this.” Amazing! “A girl in a wheelchair did
this.” Inspirational! If they looked at me as an individual they wouldn’t
bother to praise me at all. There are all sorts of people from the past with
severe disabilities who achieved truly great things. Beethoven was a
composer but could hardly hear at all. His music is still loved across the
world, but that isn’t because it’s “music made by a disabled person.”

Without realizing it, Kozue’s thoughts were showing in her expression.

“Is… something wrong?” the middle-aged reporter said, concerned.

“Oh, no,” Kozue gushed, smiling.

 94

I know. This guy doesn’t mean anything bad by it. I guess he really just
wanted to praise me. Everyone that comes here is so kind. No, not just
here. This world is so kind to me. Although I’m in a wheelchair I don’t
lose much freedom. I can get from home to here on my own. I’m so
grateful to have been born into such a world. I live a very protected life.
Maybe a little too protected. That’s why I want to “repay” the world in
some way. Why is the world so kind to me? Am I really worthy of being
treated this way? I want to repay that kindness in my own way.

I’m always receiving things from the world. I hate that. I want to return
the favor. I want to accomplish something for the world. Unless I do that,
I don’t feel I’ll ever have an equal relationship with other people. I’ve
always just had a longing to find “the me I really want to be” in other
people. But that’s no good. I’ll achieve something on my own merits. I’ll
achieve something by myself without Waku-kun holding my hand. If I do
that, I think then I’ll be able to truly like Waku-kun. That’s why I want to
save the world. Up to yesterday the world was saving me. From today I,
we, will save the world.

Privately but forcefully, Kozue was firmly determined.

It was three days before Kozue met Waku-kun and the others again.

Kozue was in her room getting ready to head off to the facility and was
overcome with a feeling of dizziness.

And then.

She dropped.
95

“Ah!” A short shriek escaped her lips.

She was in… an empty white room.

The cockpit of that robot!

“Are you okay? Kozue?”

A familiar voice. Waku!

Kozue turned to find her 13 friends, the girl calling herself Maaya and
the Koyemshi creature.

“What happened to your wheelchair?” Waku protested.

Up to now Kozue had been transported here along with her wheelchair
but this time she was alone. That’s why she fell flat on her back when
she arrived.

“Everyone is such a fuss pot. Fine, I’ll make a nice chair for you,”
grumbled Koyemshi.

“Make?” asked Waku.

Waku looked around and seemed to notice something.

“Actually, there’s… nothing here…”

It’s true. There’s nothing in the room at all.

The only things present were the 15 children and the one unidentified
creature.
 96

The office chair used by Teacher from last time and the other chairs
arranged in a circle around it had disappeared.

Maaya addressed the crowd, “Those chairs were the ones used by
Teacher. Yours are being prepared now. Can you all picture your chairs
for me?”

“Picture? What’s going on?”

“Any chair you normally use is fine.”

On hearing this, Kozue could naturally think only of her familiar

wheelchair.

“Right. Then I’ll take a little look-see at your primitive thought patterns.”
Koyemshi used its typical unnecessarily verbose figures of speech.

Then.

Then fourteen chairs suddenly appeared from thin air, just like the
enemy had appeared from nowhere before.

“What?”

“Ah!”

“Wow!”

The boys were amazed.

Kozue: “Oh great,” Kozue sighed with relief as her familiar wheelchair
appeared. “I’ll help you up,” Waku and Mako lifted Kozue into the
wheelchair.
97

Waku: “This chair is mine.”

Kako: “Mine’s here.”

Kirie: “That’s mine. Wow… it’s exactly right, even where we replaced the
screws.”

Tsubasa: “I guess this is mine.”

There was nothing special about the four chairs; they were just normal
office chairs with casters.

Anko: “Here’s mine.” A stool.

Kanji: “This one.” It was a black and aluminum two-tone, streamlined

chair designed for ergonomics.

Kodama: “Whose is this executive chair?” “Ah, sorry. That’s me,” replied
Kodama, raising his hand with embarrassment. “It belongs to my dad. I
was just thinking about sitting in it and… up it popped.”

Chizu: A Scandinavian wooden chair.

Komo: A similar wooden chair, but antique.

Mako: “Wait a second. Who conjured up this baby bed?” “Ah, that would
be me.”

Ushiro: “Um, that one’s a school chair…” “Whose is that? How sweet.”
Everyone’s gaze fell on one person. “It’s got to be Ushiro, right?” “What
an imagination!”

Maria: “This is mine.” A tatami… on top of which a cushion.

98
99

“Maria, you do realize that isn’t any kind of chair in Japanese, right?”

“Hawaii? Why? Tatahmees are so cool! A cushion on a tatahmee—

that’s the traditional Japanese style!”

“She does her fake foreigner routine at the strangest times…”

Kana: The last one was a cushioned chair. “It’s pretty normal compared
to Ushiro’s.” “Kana-chan, you mustn’t grow up to be like your brother.”
Kana let slip a vague smile and sat on her chair.

Now all 14 had found their chairs, Maaya spoke up.

“So, you’ve all found your chair. Shall we get ready?”

“Wait,” Maria looked up, “where’s Maaya’s chair?”

There were 14 chairs, but 15 people. One was missing. Everyone’s gaze
fixed on Maaya, the only one not sitting.

“I’m not contracted, remember? Chairs are only prepared for

contractees. I’m here purely in a supporting role.”

“But we won’t be able to settle down if there is still somebody standing

around,” Maria complained to Koyemshi.

“Yamada-kun, a cushion, please,” sighed Koyemshi.

“Yamada-kun? Who’s this Yamada-kun?”

“Oh, you know. Come on, we better give them one. These people are so
self-obsessed.” the creature continued.
 100

As if by magic, a cushion appeared in thin air and fell on Maria’s head.

“Ow, that hurt!”

“So sorry. But that’s what people who demand things without manners
should expect.”

Maria set the new cushion down next to her.

“Kana-chan, come sit next to your sis. You can swap places with the
mystery girl. …that’s okay isn’t it?”

“Sure. Thank you, you’re so kind.” Kana positioned herself on the

cushion.

“Wait a second, take your shoes off. You can’t wear shoes on tatami!”

“Oh, a real stickler,” commented Ushiro.

Maaya sat herself in Kana’s old chair.

“Koyemshi!” Maria piped up.

“What is it this time?”

“Can we get some tea and pastries?”

“Are you an idiot? Do you think yourself funny?”

“If you’re on a tatami and cushion you need green tea and pastries. You
are Japanese, aren’t you?”

“I’m Koyemshi! Honestly! Do you people understand what you came

here to do? This isn’t a game!”
101

“I get it! I was just injecting a little fun, that’s all.”

“We’re going to fight the enemy. I know,” Maria continued, “So where is
it anyway?”

“Right. As long as you know. The enemy is… here.”

The viewport opened to reveal a giant figure standing before them.

…The enemy.

A basic description would be a grey upright gorilla… an apeman? Its

neck was embedded in its body and it was more rotund in shape, but
otherwise it was generally humanoid.

“It’s a bit more normal-looking than the last one at least,” Waku opined
frankly.

“But it sure does look pretty strong,” shivered Kako.

“So, we have to fight this time?” Waku asked Maaya.

“You said this thing moves by thinking?”

“Correct.”

“But there are 14 of us…”

Maaya explained, “Which one of you heard the voice? One person will
serve as the pilot for each battle. Before each battle starts the Puppet’s
voice will call to you.”
 102

“Voice…?” Well I didn’t hear anything. Anyone?” Waku said with a look
of disappointment, looking round at the others.

Kozue remembered. A voice. I heard a voice.

“It might be me.”

When her ferry came into port she had the feeling she heard someone
call her name. Kozue timidly raised her hand.

“Um, it’s me. I’m not sure how but someone called my name.”

“Okay, you felt something. If it moves then you’re the pilot.”

Moves… how?

All that Kozue could think of was a long beam of light.

The destructive beam of light that tore through the beautiful blue evening
sky in the last battle.

Then — a shrill buzz — a long beam of light shot towards the enemy.

“I’m… the pilot?”

“It would seem so. The fate of the world is in your hands. Are you ready?”
Maaya looked into Kozue’s eyes as she spoke. Her friends also gazed
at her face. It was then that Kozue understood where her malaise had
been coming from.

But… I can do this. I can. Today… with my own strength… today is the
day I repay the world.
103

Kozue nodded. “I’m okay. I can do it.”

She glared at the powerful enemy standing before her. The enemy’s
face seemed similar to before, with 10 slits.

Some of them were lit. Kozue thought they looked a little like eyes.
Kozue stared directly into them.

I’m going to fight.

I’m going to save them.

The chair — wheelchair — Kozue was sitting in moved to the center, as

if to confirm that she was the pilot.

“Right! Kozue, there’s no point using the lasers,” Waku said, “You’ll have
to close in on it first!”

He’s right. I’ll make no progress just swapping laser fire. I’ll have to move
closer first.

Just as Kozue was about to move.

“Wait! Don’t move!” Mako’s piercing voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Why not? The enemy’s right there!”

“Where do you think we are?”

“What?”

For the first time Kozue, as well as the others, realized where they
actually were. They hadn’t noticed because of the enormous size of the
 104

enemy, but they were standing in the middle of a city. It didn’t seem
much compared to the size of the Puppet and enemy, but high-rise
buildings reached to around waist height. Amongst them an even taller
red steel tower.

It’s…

“Tokyo?”

“Yes, I don’t know if any of this is real. But if it is real, and that is the real
Tokyo, then there are people in that city down there.” Mako screamed
out a warning.

As she spoke, Kozue looked down at the sprawling city below. The line
of sight appeared magnified as a separate screen. They could see a
couple clinging to each other looking up in terror. Behind them,
pedestrians were fleeing.

Suited office workers leaned out of windows and pointed up screaming.

Looking down at the city from this giant’s perspective made everything
seem so small and unconvincing, like a miniature model. But emerging
from the scene was the unmistakeable sight of the city’s inhabitants.

Kozue shivered.

If I just move a single step I’ll wipe out all those people!

“If we fight here lots of people will die! Wait until they’ve all got away.”

“Wait? Are you crazy? The enemy is right here! What are we supposed
to do if it attacks?” Kako protested.
105

“But the enemy isn’t moving. We shouldn’t move until it does.” Mako
countered.

Kozue’s laser shot was a direct hit. In fighting terms, hostilities have
been opened, but this Apeman hasn’t budged an inch. “Maybe the
enemy’s also waiting?” suggested Kanji.

“But for what? I mean, it is the enemy. Maybe it’s building strength ready
for an all-out attack?” suggested Kodama.

Koyemshi piped up, “Ok. Don’t worry about squashing a few people
down there. Tell Kozue-chan to defeat that enemy.”

“Fine? Kozue-chan, keep standing exactly where you are! If the enemy
moves… then… then…” her words tailed off. Mako had nothing.

“O… okay,” Kozue replied.

But Maku’s warning planted a seed of doubt in Kozue’s heart.

Keep standing… how do I do that? It sounds so easy.

While a simple enough phrase, it was a fatal problem for Kozue.

I’m sitting in my wheelchair like always. But the robot is standing upright.
Stand. I have to concentrate on standing. What am I supposed to do to
keep it standing?

As if in response to her hesitation the Puppet suddenly began to shake.

Then in a snap second the 500 meter giant began to tumble towards the
sprawling city below. Countless tiny screams rose up. The cockpit
rumbled, and then thudded into silence.
 106

What’s happened? I can’t see.

“It’s okay. The cockpit is a floating structure. An impact like that’s no

more than a soft toy to it.” Maaya’s calm, distant voice completely
missed the point.

Unable to bear the horror, Mako screamed, “Okay? How is it okay? All
those people…!”

Unintentional, unconscious, unavoidable.

Kozue began to frantically look around her.

The Puppet automatically followed her line of sight. It focused in on a

location from the pilot’s consciousness, and the surrounding scene was
thrust before the children’s eyes.

And they saw.

Masses the size of skyscrapers were toppling. A scene of pandemonium

unfolded beneath them in a disaster unknown to humankind. Countless
buildings were crushed beneath the Puppet, not to mention the many
surrounding buildings destroyed by the shock of the earthquake caused
by the impact. Rubble cascaded down onto a bustling pedestrian mall.
Mixed in with the rubble, like tiny grains of sand, were people, ground
against the earth to a red paste.

A child who couldn’t be more than 10 years old was crying. Sticking out
from the rubble alongside was a woman’s hand smeared with blood. The
child’s cries went unheard by the masses fleeing the devastation.
107

Everybody was trying to get away, but with no sense of where to run.
Groups escaping to the west clashed with groups running to the east
and descended into a fray. Above them, buildings began to crumble,
permanently interrupting their nightmare.

A boy, gripped with panic, held a rod-shaped object and screamed. He

was carrying… his own severed right arm. A girl beside him dragged
something along as though on a string, staggering forwards. Is that…
her guts?

Pile ups littered the roads, one car burst into flames. The fire spread to
the others one by one. Drivers caught in the incident writhed around on
the road.

The girls screamed. Others covered their mouths.

“Stop!”

“I… I… What…?” Kozue muttered, her face sheet white.

Her hands shook and her teeth chattered.

“Get a grip Kozue!”

“Get the hell up!”

The gruesome scene had shaken the group of friends to their cores.
Their response took the form of pouring admonishment upon Kozue.

“I’m sorry! I… I…”

“It’s okay.”
 108

“Just try to stand!”

Try to stand.

I just have to imagine it and it moves, so if I can just imagine “stand.” It’s
so simple.

For anyone except Kozue.

The Puppet’s long arms thrust down into the city. Another block erupted
in noise and collapsed, but Kozue had no room to notice it. The Puppet’s
upper body began to rise.

“That’s it. Good. Come on.”

Now she concentrated on being aware of the legs. They began to

stand… staggered… and collapsed.

Another disaster.

Suddenly, the enemy which had remained still so far began to move. It
began to walk in their direction.

“It… it’s coming this way!”

“We’ll get beaten!”

“The lasers! Use the lasers, quick!”

“Yes!”

A multi-beamed laser shot out from the collapsed black Puppet towards
the grey Apeman, but mostly just bounced off its armor. Some flew up
109

into the sky, but some were deflected downwards, adding to the
devastation.

Step after step, the Apeman drew closer to the collapsed and unmoving
Puppet.

Boom.

Boom.

Each step it took caused a slight vibration in the cockpit.

Several people recalled the last battle where the situation was reversed.
The Spider used its electric shock in vain as the Puppet approached,
before being smashed. The current situation seemed a complete role
reversal.

“No, no, no… don’t come this way…” Kozue still couldn’t get up and
continued firing laser volleys in futile resistance.

We’re done for. We’re hardly hurting the enemy. It’s going to pummel us.

The cockpit was filled with the booming steps. The effect of fire on the
Puppet was marginal, but the inevitability of the approaching vibrations
was dawning on the children.

“We’re going to die! Kozue! Stand up quickly! Quickly!” Kako yelled.

Panic. Kozue covered her ears and shut her eyes to try to block out their
impending fate.

Dumbstruck. Her eyes darted around in fright.

 110

Dead-eyed stare. The white room descended into chaos.

Enough…

“Quiet!” Waku thundered, “Try to put yourself in Kozue’s place! You can’t
just tell her to stand and expect her to just be able to do it!”

The room fell silent for a brief second.

“So what do we do?”

“If we stay like this we’re mincemeat!”

Waku’s intervention briefly stabilized the mood.

Waku stood up silently. He walked over to Kozue as she curled up in

desperation on the wheelchair and gently held her tightly clenched left
hand.

“Open your eyes Kozue.”

“W… what?”

“It’s okay. Just try to imagine it. I’ll do it with you. If someone does it with
you it’ll work. You don’t have to do this on your own, I’m here with you.”

Kozue closed her eyes.

Waku-kun is holding my hand. It’s just like always. I can’t stand up on

my own, but I can if someone helps me up. And just like always Waku-
kun is here for me.

Alright. I’m okay. I can do this. I can fight.

111

The Puppet rumbled… and stood.

“Yes!”

“But… the enemy!”

“Kozue, open your eyes.”

The enemy! It’s right there! It’s almost upon us!

“That’s the enemy. We have to defeat it. You can do it, Kozue.”

Kozue looked up at Waku, her eyes full of fear. Waku put his hand in his
pocket and took something out for Kozue.

“Take this.”

A key? No, something else…

He passed her an old worn out ball-shaped key chain. The surface had
mostly peeled off and areas of skin-colored rubber were visible, but from
the remaining colors Kozue could tell it was supposed to be a soccer
ball.

“A good luck charm. It helps me win. I carry it at every match. Whenever

I hold this and make a wish before a match I’m guaranteed to win. If I
forget to make the wish I always lose,” Waku explained.

“Make a wish! And win!”

How childish. A good luck charm. How silly to compare this situation with
a soccer game. This situation… The approaching enemy and the city we
destroyed. All those stolen lives.
 112

Surrounded by all this, the girl who had just learned to stand would have
to depend on a wish to survive.

Grasp. Wish. And win.

The enemy raised its arms and lunged forwards. In that instant…

The Puppet’s right arm swung forwards and landed an audacious blow
on the enemy.

This Puppet is strong… Maaya was telling the truth. The enemy was first
to start its attack but we landed the blow first. The arms on the Puppet
do seem longer…

Whether because of reach or whatever reason, the speed of the attack

proved an overwhelming success. The bearing on the enemy is
determined by a function of mass and speed. In a fight between
opponents of equal build, speed determines who wins and loses.

So… this Puppet really is strong.

“You did it!”

“Come on!”

Move the leg forwards…

Kozue was walking.

A little further…

With each step dozens of rows of buildings were trampled, and ten times
as many lost their lives.
113

Kozue had no time to think about that now.

Defeat it. Defeat the enemy, was all she could think.

Again she raised the right arm and punched. Punch after punch. The
enemy stood at a distance, then began to move away.

“Is it running?”

“What do we do if it runs away?”

“It seems to be heading for the sea…”

“Why?”

“Maybe it has a special move that draws power from the water.”

“Stop it Kodama. Get real.”

The boys pondered the change in behavior.

“Actually it seems more like its leading us to the sea,” Kanji remarked.

It sure seems that way, thought Kozue.

“Kozue, go after it.”

“Ok.”

Right foot forward. Now the left. Take it steadily, one step at a time. The
trampled city… and the people… I mustn’t think about it.

“Maybe it’s because it’s hard to fight with poor footing.”

“Do you think?”

 114

The Puppet’s enormous size meant buildings were like weeds compared
to its footprint.

That’s why it’s causing so much damage. Anyway, the enemy’s moving
towards the coast now.

“Maybe the enemy also wants to avoid damaging the city…” Kirie said
nervously.

“Don’t be silly! It’s the enemy! Think about it!” Kako yelled.

But… Kozue thought. Actually, the enemy’s gait seems a little odd.
When we attacked before I thought it might be injured, but maybe it was
trying to avoid destroying the city. I destroyed the city more than it did.
Which one of us is really protecting the world here? Kozue was battling
with her thoughts.

“Kozue, just concentrate on defeating that thing. Give it everything. Don’t

worry about anything else!” Waku urged.

“Ok,” Kozue nodded.

She held the charm tight in her right hand and squeezed Waku’s hand
just as tight with her left.

The fight moved into the ocean. Kozue raised her right arm.

The Apeman positioned itself to dodge the next head on punch from the
Puppet. It circled round to the side just out of reach of the right arm and
delivered a concentrated volley of laser fire. Kozue turned to face it and
raised her arm to punch, but again it backed away and let loose with the
115

lasers. Perhaps it realized it was at a relative disadvantage with the

previous tactic. It seemed like a flyweight boxer using his speed as a
weapon to fight a heavyweight. In the last battle the Puppet piloted by
the Teacher had been able to easily kick the Spider, so a lack of speed
wasn’t necessarily a problem. But the pilot this time was Kozue, a girl
who had forgotten how to walk many years ago but was now standing
and moving, and more than that involved in a fist fight. But this was
taking all her effort; it was her limit, and it wasn’t enough. It looked as
though the enemy had incurred some damage due to the earlier tactic,
and perhaps one or two more blows at full strength would have put an
end to things. But those blows would not come. On the contrary the
enemy’s sporadic attacks were working against the Puppet.

Blow by blow, little by little, the armor was being surely worn away.

The Puppet raised its right arm.

The Apeman circled and returned laser fire.

The Puppet raised its right arm.

The Apeman circled and returned laser fire.

The Puppet raised its right arm.

The Apeman circled.

The Puppet raised its right arm.

The Apeman circled and returned laser fire.

Each time the cycle repeated the Puppet inched closer to defeat.
 116

“Damn it! What now?” Waku muttered.

No idea.

What should I do?

The enemy came forward.

Kozue let out her right arm, only again to hit empty space.

Then more laser fire.

Suddenly, “Kozue!”

Maria, who had so far held back from commenting, raised her voice.

“Do you want to win?”

It was an unexpected question. How could it be relevant to the current

situation?

“What?” The dubious voices of the others interrupted her, then Maria
continued.

“I’m asking Kozue. Do you want to win by any means possible?” she
asked with a look of seriousness.

The usual insolent, rough-and-ready Maria took on an indescribable

expression. Kozue caught her gaze, and replied, “I do.”

Having heard this, Maria looked distressed and said, “I see. In that
case… use Tokyo as your shield.”

Everyone was dumbfounded.

117

“What are you saying? That would be… More people would…” Kako
retaliated.

“That’s why I asked if you wanted to win at all costs. Listen. The enemy
is moving just outside our area of attack, dodging our attacks and firing
lasers. But sometimes the enemy doesn’t attack despite its perfect
timing. It made me think. Why doesn’t the enemy attack, and why did it
originally come out to sea in the first place. There can only be one reason.
It wants to protect the city. It is the enemy and we have to fight it no
matter what, but we don’t know its objectives. If it’s invading maybe
there’s something in Tokyo it wants. I don’t know what, but for whatever
reason the enemy is trying to protect Tokyo. That’s why, Kozue, you
should use Tokyo as a shield. Maybe then the enemy will stop firing its
laser. You might be able to land a direct punch on it as it tries to avoid
damaging the city.”

Boom. Another powerful laser impact.

Again, the Puppet was hit by the enemy’s fire.

“It’s a coward’s way out and it isn’t certain to work, but we’re at a massive
disadvantage here so we have to at least try to break the deadlock.”

Try…

But if we lose even more people will lose their lives.

“If the enemy is an invader, even more people will die unless we take it
down. It’s a necessary sacrifice. But you have to decide, Kozue. Of
course it would be best if we could win without putting anyone’s life at
 118

risk, without any sacrifice. But unfortunately that’s not a choice you have.
Somehow you have to defeat that thing.”

“Don’t be so mean.” Several of the girls protested, but Kozue quietened

them, “It’s ok.” She looked at Maria and saw from her pained expression
that she understood what the words meant.

Okay. It’s my decision. I want to defeat the enemy.

“Waku-kun, let go of my hand.”

“Wh…”

“It’s okay. I can stand by myself now.”

Yes. I’m taking a gamble, fighting for the fate of the world. Right now I’m
the only one who can protect the world. Will the world be lost for fear of
sacrifice? Can I save the world without sacrifice? Only I can make that
decision.

Kozue made the Puppet retreat as though dodging the laser attacks
coming in from the enemy. Behind her was Tokyo.

The enemy’s fire ceased.

“The attacks have stopped…”

Still without firing, the enemy circled round to Kozue’s side. It was clearly
trying to get Tokyo out of the firing line. In response Kozue took another
step backwards. Then the process repeated.
119

Each time it was repeated the Puppet and the Apeman drew closer, step
by step, to the shore. The enemy then stopped trying to circle round to
the side. It clearly feared destroying the city in which Kozue and the
others lived. This meant the Apeman had only two options. It could fire
its lasers, even though this would cause some damage to the city, or it
could avoid all collateral damage and go back to point blank direct
attacks.

The enemy didn’t move. It was as though it was weighing up its two
options. A minute passed.

The Apeman moved again. It squared up to the Puppet and raised its
right arm high above its head. Keeping that stance, it charged.

The Apeman had chosen the second option.

“Look out!”

“Come on, Kozue!”

But there was no need for encouragement.

Kozue charged.

“Uaaaaaaaahhhh!”

Kozue screamed as the Puppet lunged forwards. The full weight of the
Puppet fed into a straight right punch. The Puppet’s needle-like right arm
and the Apeman’s huge rock-like right arm struck head on. The
Apeman’s right arm crumpled and shattered.

“Way to go, Kozue!”

 120

“Yes! We can do it! We can win!”

Another blow struck the enemy, already staggered by the loss of an arm.

“Look! I can stand on my own!”

It was a direct hit. The armor smashed and the point pierced the enemy’s
torso. She pulled the right arm back and brought in the left.

“I’m… fighting… using my own strength!”

And again with the right.

The battle had been brought to a close.

We won.

The Puppet stood with its feet half in the water, and the destroyed enemy
lay stretched out. The Puppet slowly turned and looked over its shoulder.

Tokyo.

The city Kozue had protected. The city that had shielded Kozue. The
city Kozue had destroyed. The battle was over. But even now black
smoke billowed up across the city. Many lives had been lost… and many
more were still being lost. Kozue’s expression soured as she looked on.
There was no joy in this victory.

“Can we go outside?” Kozue squeezed the voice from her throat. “I want
to see what we’ve done with my own eyes.”

“That’s fine, but your chair can’t be transported from here,” said Maaya.
121

“That’s okay. I’ll help you,” said Waku.

“Okay,” Kozue nodded.

There was a perfectly flat area just at the nape of the Puppet’s neck. The
city was destroyed. They looked down on the city as though from the
clouds. It looked like a mirage. But Waku knew people were still down
there as the black smoke continued to billow up. He was snatched away
from the scene by the girl holding his hand next to him. The faces of
Kozue’s friends were anything but warm. The capital of their nation was
engulfed in flames, utterly destroyed. It looked as though an earthquake
had struck. It was clear they thought it wasn’t their fault; it was Kozue’s
fault.

“Waku-kun, I… I did everything I could,” Kozue whispered.

Kozue sighed.

Waku felt more than ever that he had to protect Kozue.

The battle has only just started. I have to help her through this.

As he thought, he held Kozue’s hand all the more tightly.

“Let go of my hand,” Kozue said abruptly. “I think I might be able to walk

by myself.”

“Oh… okay,” Waku was confused.

Is she alright?
 122

But Kozue’s voice sounded so sure. Waku let go. As he did so he

expected her to immediately fall to the ground, but, somehow, Kozue
simply stood. Undoubtedly, she was unsteady on her feet, but she was
standing, without anyone’s help. Then, Kozue took a single step upon
the Puppet’s shoulder.

Then, Waku saw.

Kozue Kurasaka stood on her own two feet and walked.

Then, Waku saw.

Kozue Kurasaka fell.

She bounced several times down the black armored plating, and
cascaded down 500 meters into the ocean.

Waku jumped forward to help, but she was gone, and the Puppet’s
shoulder was so high it was impossible to see where she had landed.

Waku was in his room.

How long has it been… did I fall asleep…

He noticed the calendar. August was nearly through. To Waku, that

meant only one thing — the deadline. On his desk his nemesis seemed
to swell before his eyes into a mountain of work — classics.

That’s why I had such bad dreams — I was sleeping on top of all these.

Kozue… falling…
123

Downstairs the telephone rang. The sudden noise gave Waku a start. It
was for him. His mom answered and called his name.

Waku pressed the share button on the second handset, suppressing a

foreboding feeling.

“Hello.”

“Oh, Tsubasa, hello.”

“Where are you?”

“Just at home.”

“You didn’t have a dream did you?”

Waku shivered, despite the summer heat.

Is the air conditioner on high again?

Tsubasa continued, “Did you ride that robot and fight again?”

“That… was a dream…”

“I’m not sure. Kozue-chan’s cellphone number… do you have it? You’re
her classmate so I thought I’d try you.”

As Waku put down the handset he felt markedly anxious.

“Mom… there was nothing on the news about a monster in Tokyo, right?”

His mother laughed, “What? Monster? What have you done now?” she
teased, assuming it was some kind of joke.
 124

Exactly. That sort of thing doesn’t happen. That thing was just a dream.
Bah, I’m worried about a thing from a dream. I was the hero. We used a
giant robot to save the world. To think something might have happened
to Kozue just because of that… it wasn’t real. And the idea that
something like that happened to Tokyo… impossible. It was a dream.

And then he remembered.

In the dream I gave my good luck charm to Kozue.

He searched through his pockets.

It was nowhere to be found.

The telephone rang again. He made a wish and picked up on the third
ring.

“They said Kozue didn’t come home. They have no idea when she even
went out.”

What?

Waku frantically searched for reasons Kozue wouldn’t have come back.

“She just went out somewhere…? Does Kozue just go out on her own
like that?”

“That’s just it. Her wheelchair was still in her room…”

What the hell? So, somehow Kozue must have gone outside… I
know! Koyemshi must have teleported her… No! That’s crazy. That was
a dream.
125

Waku’s thoughts swirled round and round and he said nothing.

Uncomfortable with the silence, Tsubasa started again, “Waku-kun, you

have a laptop, right? What’s your email address?”

Waku spelled out the address and shortly afterwards ended the call. In
his inbox was a single image file. A red tower. It was quite a bit taller
than the surrounding buildings.

I saw this… The dream. I saw this in the dream. But is there such a
building in Tokyo?

He calmly tried to think but couldn’t come up with anything. The Tokyo
skyline came up on TV on an almost daily basis.

Tsubasa called again.

“Well? We saw this, right?”

“Umm…”

“It’s called Tokyo Tower. It’s a communications tower. They used it for
broadcasting analog TV signals.”

“So what’s weird about that?”

“Well, it was pulled down 20 years ago.”

“What?”

“When TV became digital they didn’t need it anymore and then it got run
down. It was a classic example of old Tokyo so there was a campaign
to restore it, but eventually it was dismantled.”
 126

“So… what?”

“So… the place where we had the battle couldn’t have been the Tokyo
of today. It can’t have been the real one. But… well…”

But Kozue had really disappeared from her home.

Couldn’t she have just gone out? Waku repeatedly asked himself.

But that day Kozue didn’t return home, and the next day Waku heard
her family had started an official search.
127
 128

There’s a thing called the POS system. It’s something cash registers in
convenience stores have. Basically, it automatically adds up what and
how much the store has sold. It increases orders for products which
sell well or are sold out, and reduces orders for things which aren’t
selling, and it does this essentially automatically. More of the products
that sell, less of those that don’t.

It’s so obvious. It’d be great to have more yakisoba rolls and curry donuts
that sell out after 10 minutes, and fewer of those bread rolls that nobody
buys. The TV show said the system is everywhere these days,
commonplace. It said it used to only be used in convenience stores and
supermarkets, but it’s in every corner store now, right across the world.
Why not use it in a middle school store? Why don’t we at least have a
proper register? I mean, what age are we living in here: an old women
playing with an abacus and fiddling with small change? It isn’t me being
weird. It really isn’t me.

Kako thought to himself over the 73 seconds it took, from the window
seat second from the back in the first floor classroom, for him to push
his way along the corridor and down the stairs after the end of class.

The window seat was a pain. He was happy at first when he was
switched to it, but being so far from the corridor isn’t a good thing in his
current circumstances. Again the Class B judo club are waiting at the
back door of the classroom (why do they have to eat together?), losing
him precious seconds. Kako rushed down the stairs, through the
connecting passage and into the new canteen block. Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Fridays were no problem. The problems were
Mondays and Thursdays.
129

Mondays and Thursdays. And today is Monday. Stupid Mr. Murakami

with his modern Japanese class. He has a habit of adding extra work if
we’re late to class — to everyone, that is, even if just one person is late
— and so he just calmly extended class. It’s right at the start of term but
now he’s made me five minutes late. Two or three minutes might be
okay, but more than that won’t fly. It definitely won’t fly. Damn you, Mr.
Murakami. I swear I’ll beat the life out of you one day.

Kako thought to himself over the 62 seconds it took for him to race from
his classroom in the old block to the ground floor store in the new block.

Made it!

It was a full on sprint. The time was 2 minutes 15 seconds, casually

breaking his record. But, adding on the class extension time, 5 minutes
and 23 seconds, gave a potentially fatal total of 7 minutes and 38
seconds. The problem was the yakisoba rolls. Yakisoba rolls, as the
name suggests, are basically yakisoba in a sub roll. The bread is a
normal roll, and the yakisoba is everyday yakisoba. But, by some magic,
putting the two together produced an exquisite taste. It must be that this
wasn’t mere yakisoba, but yakisoba made to be put in a roll; this wasn’t
a mere roll, but a roll made to hold yakisoba. And so, the school store’s
yakisoba rolls were feted by the pupils as a supreme delicacy.

So, for Kako, the important part starts now. Clearly, this was the most
popular product of the lineup, and it will without doubt sell out at 27
minutes past 12. One of the seven wonders of the school was that this
time had not changed in 10 years.
 130

Kako didn’t know whether the 10 years rumor was true, but it certainly
hadn’t changed in the half year he’d been there.

Kako had to buy three yakisoba rolls, as well as a few side snacks and
three packs of milk, but they were less of a problem.

In the end Kako failed in his mission to buy the rolls.

Despite this, the only punishment Kako received was to be forced to eat
the bread rolls — the ones he’d bought in place of the yakisoba rolls —
thrown on the ground behind the gymnasium. Kako’s good fortune came
via his friend, Kirie Yosuke, who had anticipated his plight and bought
Kako’s yakisoba rolls after class, and given them to them already.

“Hey, Kako! You know you’re only positive feature is your speed, right?
What would you do if you were slower than piggy? You should thank
him! Thank piggy! Otherwise you’d be worse than a pig. What would you
have for lunch now if it weren’t for piggy?”

One of them would start by making a remark and then they’d play off
each other’s taunts.

Shut up! Dumb punks. They know Mondays and Thursdays are difficult.
It should have been Kirie’s turn. They forced me into this against my will.
It’s their lunches — why should I have to worry about it.

Kako kept his real thoughts to himself. He was a fair bit smaller than
them, so he had to finesse his real response. This was Kako’s worldly
wisdom.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

131

They spat out their last jibes.

“People don’t eat with pigs! We’re going up on the roof.”

“And don’t let us down again!”

“Let’s go to karaoke.”

And they left, leaving Kako and Kirie alone.

Without Kirie’s quick wittedness he was sure to have gotten a beating,

or even a dunking in the toilets. A few words of thanks might have been
appropriate. Instead, Kako glared at Kirie.

“Why?”

“W… what?” His hesitant manner triggered Kako’s inferiority complex.

Did he save me from those punks? He made a fool out of me right in

front of them. I’m supposed to be lower than him?

Kako frantically berated himself.

“Hey, Piggy! You know you aren’t as quick as me! Why didn’t you bring
the rolls straight to me? Everything would’ve been fine then! Use your
head!”

“B… but…”

“What? But nothing!”

“Ando-kun’s gang know people in your class.”

“So what?”
 132

“So they’d find out that you were late. So they’d know what I did and that
you were lying, and… it would have been even worse.”

“Oh…”

He was right.

Kako finally saw it from the other perspective.

I was just caught up in the idea that Kirie got the rolls quicker than I did.
But he had it all worked out.

“Don’t imagine things! You don’t know for sure… It might have been…”

Kako couldn’t acknowledge Kirie’s help, and lashed out with his
frustration.

A few seconds passed in silence, and then Kirie said, “I’m sorry. Come
on, eat up.”

The arena of middle school was a world of violent conflict. A group of

people have no choice but to be in a certain place at a certain time for
the unimaginably long period of three years. It was a cruel hierarchical
society. Some people lived each day to the full, laughing and joining in
club activities, while others lived a dark life unimaginable to them. When
was it that Kako started down that dark path?

“Your only positive feature is your speed.”

133

In elementary school he was unbeatable in the 500m sprint, and he was

chosen for the interclass relay.

Kako was the class hero, so when did he start being the guy who can
only run. Maybe even the tallest guy in class is eventually overtaken by
everyone. The center of the class gets everyone’s attention and support.
Maybe it was the experience of that pleasant feeling, once, as a child
that had led to his current unhappiness. Once again his thoughts
returned to the same situation.

When he entered middle school he saw it as a chance. He was

desperate to make friends with people who stood out, but inevitably
ended up being their slave.

He looked at Kirie.

He doesn’t seem as unhappy with his circumstances. Maybe it suits him

to be forced to run around for them. But I’m different. I’ve been chosen.
Why do I…

Something came into Kako’s mind.

The dark giant. The 500 meter robot — the Puppet. The righteous ally
of justice saving the world from attacking enemies.

And I’m its pilot. That means I…

“I got a call from Chizu yesterday. She said Kozue-chan disappeared.”

“What?” Kirie’s words brought Kako back to the real world. “You talk on
the phone with Chizu…?”
 134

To Kako, who had a crush on Chizu, this was the important part.

“She said Kozue-chan… disappeared. She’s officially missing…”

Hearing it the second time, Kako finally took in the words.

“Chizu heard it from Tsubasa-chan, but… since that day — the day we
had the same dream — she’s been nowhere to be found…”

“No way!”

That dream. Sitting in a giant robot and fighting over Tokyo. Then Kozue
became the pilot, and fell from the 500 meter robot into the sea after the
battle.

If Kozue didn’t come back, the meaning is clear. The dream that day
was…

“So it’s true. It was real.” Kirie’s voice was downhearted, quite unlike
Kako’s.

“It’s true! We’ve been chosen! We’re soldiers fighting to protect the
earth.”

“But then, what about Kozue-chan?”

Kako finally realized what had happened to Kozue. If it was real, if their
dream that day was reality, then Kozue’s death was also real.

“But…”
135

Kako didn’t have much of an impression of Kozue. She was always with
that kid Waku. She used a wheelchair. That was about it. If he had to
say more, honestly, it was that she was a burden.

When just one person in the group can’t walk it makes it difficult to
coordinate, he’d thought more than a few times.

Kako thought for a moment and said, “But… it was for the best, no?”

“For the best?”

“Think about it. Her… Kozue’s battle. She couldn’t even walk, never
mind fight. We have to win, to save the earth. So, it’s bad for Kozue but
it couldn’t be avoided.”

“Couldn’t be avoided?”

“Well, I mean, if we have to protect the earth.”

“I…”

As Kako spoke, Kirie seemed to want to object.

Suddenly, Kako heard it.

— Isao Kako —

Who’s calling my name…

“Congratulations.”

Clapping.

Before he knew it, there she stood — the girl dressed in black.
 136

“Maaya…”

Along with her floating sidekick.

“And Koyemshi! Don’t forget Koyemshi.”

“W… where did they come from…”

“Did someone call me?” asked Kako.

“Call? You heard it? So does that mean…”

“Indeed. It was a shame about Kozue-chan. But as she is no longer with

us, the Puppet needs a new pilot, and that’s you.” Maaya’s finger pointed
to Kako.

“Really?! I get to pilot it?”

“Yes,” Maaya nodded. “You are the pilot of the Puppet. At least for as
long as you last.”

“Ok, then!” Kako clenched his hands.

He made a big show of shaping his whole body into a heroic pose.
“Right! It’s time! I’ll take this thing and defend the earth!”

“Yes. You’ll defend the earth.”

Kako cheerfully glanced across to Kirie.

“May I ask a question?” Kirie asked quietly.

“What? Come on, she’s the same age as us. You don’t have to be all
respectful.”
137

“Well…” He hesitated a few seconds, as though he feared the answer

to his question. And then he asked, “What happened to Kozue-chan?”

“She died,” said Maaya without hesitation.

It was cold and blunt, just like the incident the day before.

“Wha…”

“Changing to a new pilot means the previous pilot died. It’s a shame but
that’s how it is.”

Cold words.

“Hey…”

“Ah, it makes sense. There’s no way you could survive falling from that
height,” Kako said indifferently, unaware of the shock this was to Kirie.

“W… well… I just have one more. Where did Kozue-chan fall from? It
wasn’t even reported in Tokyo. Even if the National Defense Forces
imposed a reporting ban, they can’t hide a fight with such enormous
robots. There would at least be rumors. But there’s nothing… Kozue-
chan piloted that robot and fought. Then she fell and died… If all that
was real, well, then where were we fighting?”

“Good question,” said Maaya, “But you asking it means you must have
thought about it, right? What do you think?”

“…Well, maybe the battle was real, but that Tokyo wasn’t…?”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense!” barked Kako.

 138

“5 out of 10,” smiled Maaya. “Maybe it’s too soon for you to get it right.
Think about it some more.”

With that, Maaya and Koyemshi disappeared, leaving only Kako and
Kirie.

The dropped bag of bread rolls lay on the sunburnt ground behind the
gymnasium.

How long had Isao Kako waited for this day? How many days going
unnoticed by anyone, unimportant to anyone, just a play thing for
punks? It’s not right, he thought.

He had long waited for “his time.” In every story Kako had heard, in
manga, anime, in novels, the main characters always had some sort of
special power. Their power always arrived suddenly. One day a hidden
ability would emerge. One day a hidden self would be restored. One day
their father would pass down a giant robot (*reference to Evangelion).
They all obtained their “power” suddenly. Then they would fight for the
world, as one of the chosen. Kako had always dreamed that day would
come. But they were just stories.

They were only fiction, made up, basically lies. Impossible things.

Kako didn’t think of himself as obsessed. He knew that things like that
— amazing things like that — hardly even happened.

But…

He wasn’t great in his studies, and he was hardly any better at sports.
139

My speed? But that’s only compared to average people.

Back in fifth grade he failed to get selected for a state university. One in
a hundred got selected, but he wouldn’t have made even one in ten. His
physical appearance was average, with no particular strong point. Kako
knew all of this, deep down.

I can’t accept it, but I don’t have a single special feature. Who could
blame me? Who could blame me for wrapping myself in a desire to be
a manga hero?

He was ecstatic about his “power.”

I’ve been chosen. I have nothing else.

Of the 13 children, Kako was the one who most believed, and most
wanted to believe, in the “game to save the earth” as Maaya called it
when they made the contract in the old school. But Kako was also afraid.
It wasn’t just him who had made the contract, but all 14 of them. Maybe
having several people piloting a robot wasn’t unusual, but 14 seemed
too many.

And…

In the robot anime he’d watched in elementary school — and also

occasionally now in his geekier moments — the lead role usually went
to a sporty type like Waku. People who don’t stand out like Kako usually
ended up controlling the robot’s ankle or in charge of the radar, saying
things like, “It won’t take any more of this!”

Am I the bit-part actor here?

 140

He’d prayed that the contract was real, but was also afraid. But Kako
wasn’t the pilot in the last battle.

It wasn’t even Waku as he’d expected, but Kozue, someone Kako hadn’t
even spoken to.

Have I finally been chosen, only to have a minor role?

This was the loneliness he felt as he watched Kozue’s fight.

But this is different. I’ve been chosen. This time I am the hero. It finally
happened. Finally, I, Isao Kako am the hero.

It’s already September, but the heat’s still so stifling at night.

Waku sat at his desk at home with the window open. His house was in
a complex raised up on a slight hill. From the window he could see an
unbroken view of the whole street. Above the starry sky, below the city
night. It seemed inappropriate in the circumstances, but Waku liked the
view. Laid out in front of him was more classics work — his punishment
for not meeting the summer vacation homework deadline.

That was what made it inappropriate. Since that day he’d felt down and
unable to concentrate on anything. Ever since the day of that “dream.”

The feel of Kozue’s hand lingered on his. A small, slightly cold hand.
Kozue had held his hand desperately as she fought, trying to stop it from
shaking.

Takashi Waku remembered. He remembered the moment he let go of

Kozue’s hand. And the moment she disappeared from view.
141

A dream.

That’s what he’d thought at first. But he woke up to the truth in his room
when Tsubasa called. She said she’d seen the same dream as Waku.

It was just as the girl said when we made the contract in the old school.
Then the key chain I have given to Kozue in the dream disappeared.
And then… ever since the dream Kozue has been missing. Can it really
have been a dream?

But there had been no reports of any 500 meter tall black monster
appearing, and besides, the Tokyo they had fought in had a supposedly
long demolished Tokyo Tower.

Can it really be true?

Waku had certainly made a contract — a contract to become a hero who

protects the earth from invading enemies.

That’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to show off. Just, to try something I
couldn’t do. But is that really true? I felt somebody call to me on the deck
of the ship. Was the old school real or a dream?

If Waku had answered back then he would have said, “Which would I
like to believe? Well, I’d prefer it not to be a dream.”

But what about now?

Being a hero who saves the earth. It’s totally different to playing forward
in the soccer team.
 142

Waku saw them in the dream — the Puppet they piloted, and the
shocking power of its enemy.

The view from the window. My town.

Waku liked his town. The ramen bar outside the station where middle
schoolers could get a free supersize and chashu, although garlic was
compulsory on health grounds. The old man in the sports store who
always joked that he should quit soccer and play baseball. His school
friends…

If anything was invading the earth, this is the place he’d want to protect
more than anything else.

But can I really do it? That 500 meter giant… Just a few steps would
flatten this town in an instant.

The memory of Kozue collapsing onto that Tokyo made him shiver.

Could such a thing really happen here? Could that robot collapse on my
house? It’s not the same as soccer. In a battle to save the earth you
don’t shake their hand and say good game at the end, win or lose. It’s
something else. It’s a real fight. If you lose, people die. Even if you win
people die.

Waku saw it during Kozue’s battle — countless people cruelly

slaughtered, followed by Kozue falling before his very eyes.

It was a dream, right? Say I’ve got it wrong! Please, let it be a dream.

This was what Waku thought now.

143

Kozue needs to come back, then the 14 of us can decide we got some
weird bug on that island and had a shared dream. I could accept that.
What’s wrong with us all having the same dream? It’s just chance that I
lost my lucky charm on the day of the dream. It’s just chance that Kozue
disappeared on the same day. It’s too much of a chance. But… but…

Waku still believed that maybe Kozue might simply turn up.

“Waku? It’s been a while! Since the Nature School, I mean.”

“Oh, yeah, how’s it going?”

Kako began talking as soon as Waku released the hold button on the
receiver, not even waiting for him to say hello.

Kako sounded unnaturally upbeat.

What is he so worked up about, worried Waku.

“Hey, get this! I’ve been chosen! I’m the next pilot!”

Chosen? The next… What does he mean?

Waku didn’t get it.

“I’ll be operating that thing next time! I’ll fight with it, you know, the
Puppet. You know, we can’t keep calling it the thing or the Puppet. We
need a name for it. So, umm, well, the pilot should have naming rights,
don’t you think? What about the Isaogo? The Isaogo! Doesn’t that sound
cool?”
 144

Waku somehow managed to interrupt Kako, “Hold on a sec, I don’t get

it. What do you mean, chosen?”

Kako talked without drawing breath: about how he heard his name called,
about how Maaya and Koyemshi appeared in front of him and Kirie, and
about how he was chosen to be the pilot.

“It was real! It’s was all real!”Kako kept repeating.

“So…” Waku asked the one thing he wanted to ask, and the one thing
he didn’t want to ask, “What about Kozue?”

“Oh, Kozue? She died,” Kako said. Just like that. It was so simple.

Perhaps because of the quick and open way it was said, Waku had
trouble understanding the words. He carefully repeated Kako’s words in
his head.

Kozue… Died… How can he be so carefree about it?

“She has to be, doesn’t she, falling from that height?”

“Hold on! Kozue’s dead! Why are so you happy about it?” Waku lashed
out, shocked by Kako’s bluntness.

“W… what’s with you? What happened to Kozue was awful, but it
couldn’t be helped. We have to save the earth you know.”

What? Kako sounded like he was explaining what happened in a game

while a friend had been away. Someone has died, and if this is real and
we don’t work this out many more people are also going to die. But
Kako’s talking so excitedly. He doesn’t get how big this is at all.
145

“We’re talking about saving the earth! It’s not a game! Think about it!”

“What’s gotten into you? Why are you so angry? Ah, is it… are you
jealous? Did you want to pilot? That’s it isn’t it? Well, sorry, but I was
chosen.”

Waku slammed the phone down.

Waku wasn’t the only person Kako called. He called the whole group,
one after the other. What Kako wanted was words of praise and envy.
Sadly, however, that isn’t what he received.

His thoughts were spinning round and round, something like this:
“Chizu? It’s me, Kako. Yeah, from the Nature School. Why didn’t you call
me? I said you should call. Oh, your number? I got it from Kirie. Who
was that before, on the phone? I didn’t know you had a sister! Anyway,
listen up! I’ve been chosen! To be the pilot! To pilot that robot! So, do
you, yeah, I mean, do you want to go out? What? But I’m the pilot now!
Of the robot! I’m the chosen one! No! Who? Tell me… oh no, not…
Kirie?! No way! That’s great! But why? I’m the pilot! Hey, why did you
hang up?”

Like Waku, everyone was troubled and sad about Kozue, except Kirie,
who warned Kako about this game they’d found themselves caught up
in.

For example:

“Hello, this is Mary Ichinose speaking. Yes. Oh, Kako. Yes, it’s me, Maria.
I was sort of expecting a call. It’s normally Komo, though. Yes, it seems
 146

you were chosen. Yes. Well, we both have fathers in the military, so we
have common things to talk about. We get in touch from time to time.

Anyway, don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you should be more
careful. No, wait. Listen to what I have to say. You’re going crazy ringing
everybody all at once. It’s already 11pm. You should probably make this
your last call. What? I amthe last call? Huh. Am I supposed to be
pleased about that? Ah, well. Just a moment, so you… you even called
Ushiro? What?! Ushiro isn’t even interested in the slightest. Kana-chan
too? Oh, clever. And? Already asleep? That’s good. They do say sleep
is the best thing for learning.

Okay, let’s get to the real issue. It’s terrible that Kozue died, but if we are
fighting to save the earth then probably lots more people will too.

We have to be prepared. But then, maybe it isn’t possible to prepare.

Okay, assuming the last battle really happened, at some stage a new
invader will appear. But there are too many unknowns about the battle.
What is the enemy’s objective? Why is it attacking the earth? In fact, we
don’t even know whether it’s a friend or a foe. What are Koyemshi,
Maaya, and that giant Puppet? Isaogo? Hah! I’m not native so I don’t
have an aesthetic sense for Japanese, but maybe something a bit
cooler? Oh well, I guess that’s okay.

Anyway, so the established facts are — assuming we trust everything

the strange girl and creature say — that if we don’t defeat the enemy the
earth will be destroyed, or something close to that. I honestly got
involved in this thinking it was a game, but this really is crazy. Planning
a battle like this is enough to make you a despot.
147

We have too little information. Do you know the saying, ‘War is the
continuation of politics by other means?’ I’m not surprised if you don’t.
It’s a classic quote. But you really should read more. My father’s in the
military, but he always says, ‘wisdom and knowledge are mankind’s best
weapon, and will outweigh any armory.’ Although, I can tell you I was
shocked when he sent me an English translation of ‘On War’ for my
graduation. I didn’t expect a dress or anything, but maybe something like
a fountain pen might have been more practical.

Huh. How rude of him. Still, he’s taller than you’ll ever be and he does
try to dress well. Oh, wait, I’ve strayed.

So, a war usually happens for a certain country’s benefit, whether it’s a
security pact or protecting rights to natural resources. There’s no evil
empire that wants to take over every last bit of the earth for no particular
reason, outside of games anyway. How many missiles do you think it
would take? There’s no country on earth that would want to annihilate
its adversary or obliterate another country without a reason. That’s
because they’d have nothing to gain from it.

We have to find out the enemy’s objective. Why is the enemy attacking
the earth? What does it want? If we can just find that out, there might be
a way to avoid fighting. If we don’t, we’ll have to defeat every one of
them. And that’s scary. We’re not even allowed to accept surrender.
They said we have to fight until someone loses, until someone dies. So
be careful. And work with the others. What is the purpose of this battle?
We need to know the truth of that black giant, and about the enemy.”

Kako was Kako.

 148

It’s sad but it’s the truth. Even when chosen to pilot a giant robot, Kako
was Kako. He hadn’t done anything to make it happen, so there was no
need to think about the reasons for it.

The next day, and the day after that, his life continued in the same way.
He went to school, attended lessons and got pushed around, just like
any school kid. The resentment remained locked deep inside him. He
resented the bullies that looked down on him. He resented Kirie who
didn’t respect him enough. He resented the classmates who ignored him.
He resented the friends who didn’t praise him. He resented the world so
full of misfortune.

Gaining the power of a giant robot served only to amplify his feelings.

And so, the day came.

And it happened.

It was Tuesday.

Tuesday, 4th period was classics with Mr. Fujiwara. Mr. Fujiwara was
close to retirement and it was said he only came into school to dote on
his bonsai’s decorating the staff room. It wasn’t unusual for him to arrive
five minutes late or finish five minutes early, and this was one of those
occasions. The lesson finished at quarter past eleven, more accurately,
11:15 and 24 seconds. That was 11 minutes and 36 seconds to the
yakisoba roll deadline. There was plenty of time to get to the store, even
149

walking and chatting to friends — although Kako had none aside from
Kirie.

However, five minutes later, Kako wasn’t at the store, he was behind the
gymnasium.

“Buy them yourself!”

“Eh?”

“I’m not going to be a servant for you punks! If you want to eat go get it
yourselves. I won’t be your slave anymore!”

I’m the chosen one. I’m a soldier fighting for the earth. Why should I have
to be a slave to you punks? Kako had planned to continue. But the
people he was talking to weren’t the types to patiently listen to his
speech to the end.

With one punch to the stomach, they hit the off button. Kako really was
Kako.

He didn’t have the reflexes to avoid the punch to the abdomen, nor the
muscle strength the take the blow. He didn’t even have the judgment to
know that hands are faster than words for these guys.

“What? Were you saying something? Kako? I thought I heard someone

mouthing off? We’d better teach him a lesson.”

The lesson lasted 15 minutes. They weren’t stupid. They knew if they
went too far it would come back on them. So they made sure not to leave
him with any marks of violence. One rule was not to strike his face.
 150

Or to put it another way, as long as it didn’t leave marks, anything was

okay.

Afternoon classes.

Kako was the only one wearing a jersey. He explained that he got his
uniform soaking wet. Incidentally, it was Kirie who brought the jersey to
Kako behind the gymnasium.

Aside from being the only pupil wearing a jersey, it was a quiet afternoon
with warm sunlight shining in. Sitting by the window, Kako held his
aching stomach with his hand, and put all of his attention on drawing in
his notebook. It was a childish drawing with no meaning to anyone but
Kako. The thing Kako had decided to draw was a burning city, with a
strange-looking alien swooping down. It was Kako’s city engulfed in
flames. Mirai Tower by the station had crumbled in one attack. The
bullies from earlier were, sadly, too slow to escape the attack and
perished. Kirie, Kako’s parents and Chizu were in impending danger and
were calling out Kako’s name.

From nowhere a black giant appears. An ally of justice. Kako’s power.

The black giant fires its laser beams towards the enemy alien. An
overwhelming triumph. Then, all glory to Kako.

Kako told himself this wasn’t just a delusion. It would really happen, and
soon.

The enemy has to arrive soon. And, then, then I’ll be a hero. Come on,
hurry. Come on, invader.
151

He incessantly drew out his scene with intense concentration. After

some time, he began to murmur the words, “come on, hurry, come on,
hurry,” and the girl sitting in the next seat looked over at him, confused,
but Kako didn’t notice.

Other than this, the afternoon was a very peaceful one.

A warm, relaxing breeze drifted on the air.

Who was it that noticed it first? Kako, immersed in sketching out his epic
battle with the invader in his notebook, didn’t notice until the sky
suddenly became dark.

“What’s that?” a string of voices shouted.

Ripped from his imagined world, Kako looked up at the sky.

“Isaogo!”

There it stood. The 500 meter giant clad in jet black armor. The
classroom was in turmoil. Some screamed in terror, others in excitement.

“Q… quiet, everyone!” shouted the teacher, her voice reaching hysteria,
but to no effect.

Some pupils leaned out of the window to look up at the Puppet. It was
the only way to take in the sheer size of it.

Amongst the chaos, one pupil sneaked out of the back door of the
classroom, without anybody noticing. Kako ran. Down the linoleum
corridor, heading for the roof.
 152

Finally. Finally. Finally. Isaogo! My power! All mine! My own robot! It’s
true! It isn’t a dream! It really exists.

Every classroom he passed was in uproar. Screams and angry voices

pounded his ears as he sprinted down the corridor. To Kako, it was all
applause for him.

He shivered. He actually felt good.

Right now, everyone in the school, no, more than that, everyone in this
city is watching my Isaogo, watching me. Nobody will ever ignore me
again.

From today on I’m reborn! No, today I’ve finally become me — a hero
protecting the world.

Kako opened the door and ran out onto the rooftop. The giant was really
there, blocking out the sun, putting the whole school in shadow.

“Koyemshi! Maaya!” Kako yelled.

“Where are you? The pilot’s here! Quick! I’m the pilot!”

“Ka… Kako-kun… so you were up here.”

It was Kirie, with his usual hesitant voice.

That’s fine. We’ll get taken up there together anyway.

Kako turned to the giant Puppet and yelled again, “Koyemshi! Koyemshi!
Maaya! Maaya!”
153
 154

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m right here. Also, incidentally, could I ask that you not
refer to a young lady on such familiar terms?”

“Fine, fine! I get it, just hurry up and take me with you. Come to think of
it, where’s the enemy? Is it still not here?!”

“Yes, yes, yes. Well then, I’ll transfer you. This is the biggest moment of
your entire life, you know. So, could you at least fight a battle you won’t
regret?”

A transfer. A moment of dizziness. It’s a scene he’s already accustomed

to: a pure white room, with fourteen chairs floating about ― or more
accurately, thirteen chairs and one mat.

The other children were already there. In his mind, Kako wondered
bitterly why he, the leading role, wouldn’t be called first.

Out loud, though, he made a show of joking around. “Make way, make
way, here comes the pilot!”

There was no response. Everyone’s eyes were on Maaya and Anko,

who seemed to be in the midst of an argument.

“Hey, I never heard anything about there being a summons in the middle
of class! Don’t you think that’s embarrassing?!”

“I’m so terribly sorry. This just happens to be a battle for the fate of the
world, you see. If you wouldn’t mind cooperating…”

“But still! It was really embarrassing to be pulled out of the classroom! I

had to say that my stomach hurt and I needed to go to the infirmary, for
155

goodness’ sake! Starting tomorrow they’re definitely going to start

saying ‘Anko eats too much’ and stuff! Uuugh, this is the worst!”

Koyemshi, who had brought Kako here, pushed his way in. “Okay, okay,
okay. So, would you rather be teleported out of the classroom? That sort
of thing would cause an uproar, surely. It’s quite a bit of trouble, you
know, to teleport you all at your convenience.”

“But hey, Anko, those are some pretty cute clothes. That’s the uniform
of the girls’ junior high, isn’t it? You go to a prety good school.”

“I know, right ー wait, Kanji, how do you know that? Are you some kind
of uniform-loving perv? Ewww!”

“Shut up! Mom has a lot of the materials she uses at work lying around
at home.”

“Huh? Is she a fashion designer?”

“Nah, she’s an architect.”

“Huh? Why would an architect have materials for a uniform?”

I don’t understand what goes on in those people’s heads!

“Not even your mother’s?”

“Hey!” Kako yelled without thinking. “Be serious! The battle’s about to
begin!” With that, everyone’s attention finally turned to Kako.

“What a weird uniform.”

“Wait, why is it a jersey?” Maria and Anko teased matter-of-factly.

 156

― Flashback. Lunch break.

“Training”. ― Kako shouted, trying to shake off a humiliating memory.

“Shut up! What does it matter?! Hurry up and sit down! This isn’t a game!”

At Kako’s harsh words, the other kids seated themselves. Kana sat next
to Maria, as usual. Nearby, there was a single empty seat: a wheelchair.
As a matter of course, everyone’s eyes turned in that direction.

“…Kozue’s…” somebody murmured quietly.

A heavy silence engulfed the white room.

“It can’t be helped!” Kako was shouting again. “We’ll just have to work
harder in her place!”

They were empty words, too empty. Even Kako knew that he was just
spinning his wheels.

Why? I’m the pilot, you know, Kako thought discontentedly. Couldn’t
they at least encourage me to do my best or something? But he
forcefully restrained himself.

However. After all, all everyone else could do was watch his fight from
the sidelines.

If I show them a real battle, he thought, they’ll see me in a different light.

Yeah, that’s right. A hero would have no need to scrounge for responses
from his band of supporters. Supporting characters should just gather
amongst themselves.
157

Kako looked at the scene projected before his eyes. He was overlooking
his town from a high, faraway place. The school at his feet looked terribly
small. The distance from his house to the school, which he had always
run along frantically after sleeping in, could now be crossed in barely a
single step.

“Heh heh. So my town was really this small all along…” he muttered
quite naturally.

“Kako, is this the town where you guys live?” Chizu asked.

“Y… yeah. This is our town. We were all in class, and suddenly, this
robot appeared…” Kirie was the one who responded.

Thanks for the explanation, you background character, Kako

thought, but none of that stuff really matters.

More importantly, where are your encouraging words for the hero,
Chizu?

“This time for sure, it’s all real, isn’t it… Right now, the earth — Kako’s
town — is right beneath us.” Mako said quietly.

What an obvious thing to say. Haven’t I’ve been telling them all along?
This is the real thing.

“So, I’m the pilot, huh. Well, why don’t we start with my first step toward
greatness?”

“Wait!” Mako said sharply.

One by one, they were all getting in the way.

 158

What could it be this time?

“What are you thinking? There are still people down there! Don’t you
remember the last battle? Do you want to crush all your friends and
family?!”

Upon hearing that, it finally hit him. The view beneath Kako — no,
beneath the Puppet — had been enlarged and projected onto a screen.
There were people down there, on foot or in cars, who were evacuating.
The town was in a panic.

Perhaps because they were all rushing too much, many of the roads
were congested with traffic and pile-ups. The fact that some people had
abandoned their cars and were fleeing on foot were only spurring on the
chaos. As if following along with Kako’s gaze, more and more new
windows were opening. People fled in all directions. All of them, when
they looked over their shoulders, wore terrified expressions. What their
frightened faces were looking at, was, of course, Kako’s Puppet — the
“Isaogo.”

Their expressions revealed their fright, but to Kako this was perfectly
pleasant. It gave him a satisfying sense of superiority, and just a little bit
of relief.

Well, his mother and father would both be out of town at work, and even
his sister was currently at college. As far as friends, the only one he
thought he should help was Kirie, who was right there.

Although… well, it couldn’t be helped. He supposed he could wait. I am

the champion of justice, after all, he thought. But.
159

“Is the enemy not coming yet? It’d be pretty bad if it came right now,”
Kanji said.

That is true. This is only until the enemy comes. Once the fight begins,
I wouldn’t be worrying about any of the people below, Kako thought.

“Looks like it’s not here yet.” Maaya was right: looking around, there was
absolutely no sign that the enemy was coming.

How anticlimactic, Kako thought; here I am, ready to fight, and yet…
how boring.

“I guess we just have to wait,” he grumbled casually, sitting on the chair

with his legs swinging back and forth lazily.

However, from the Puppet’s point of view, the evacuation of the men and
women was astonishingly slow. It was just like watching a parade of ants.

Then, a metallic clank. The screen magnified. It was the same kind of
fighter aircraft they’d seen before: the eighty-eight style light aircraft.

“So they’re here already? That was fast,” Kako said, honestly voicing his
thoughts.

“Of course. The enemy is an aircraft that can fly at the speed of sound,
so you have to move within seconds or it won’t make a difference,” Mako
explained.

“I hope they don’t get hit or anything…”

“I’m sure they’ll be okay.”

 160

Looking at the enhanced image, Mako seemed to be in her element as

she started to explain. “Originally, they were on alert standby ― their
main function was to combat airspace violations by other countries. Of
course, the eighty-eight aircraft is a multi-functional machine, but it
should normally only be equipped with anti-aircraft weaponry.”

“..In other words, these two machines are fundamentally flying aircraft
that are simply designed to fight flying aircraft that come from other
countries, so it won’t have bombs or anything for attacking the surface…
is what Mako is saying.” Mako’s explanation was incomprehensible to
the others, but Maria was able to follow it without hesitation.

“I see… I don’t really get it, but I do understand that Mako is a huge
nerd,” Waku said, causing Mako to turn bright red and lower her gaze.

Sure enough, just as Mako said, the two aircraft that appeared only
circled in the sky, as they had last time.

“At any rate, the enemy still hasn’t appeared, and the evacuation isn’t
done yet, so… I’m bored. Maybe if I scare them a little, it’ll motivate them
to run away faster?”

“Don’t be stupid! These are real people’s lives here!” The joke had made
Mako’s tone change drastically from earlier as she chastised him.

She’s so annoying, Kako thought. I bet even at school she willingly runs
for class president and makes the whole place boring, probably. And…

When he was scolded about something, Kako was the type of boy who
only wanted to do it more. Accordingly, he sought out faces he
161

recognized among the people beneath him. There he found three young
juvenile delinquents who had bullied him badly in the past.

Of course, Kako wasn’t a boy who could be said to be a good person.

Holding a grudge against the juveniles who had looked down upon and
tormented him, he wanted to deal with it in the worst way possible, just
as they had hit Kirie when they’d had power over him. This is by no
means a defense of Kako’s actions, but… what took place next was
most certainly not what Kako had intended. The boys were running away
in a panic.

“Heh heh heh. I’ll give ’em a scare…. This is your divine punishment for
making fun of me. I do want to make sure I can move this thing properly,
after all.” With those words, Kako took aim at the three boys fleeing
below and fired his laser ― only intending to startle them a little.

Yes, it is the kind of scene that you often see in movies and the like. The
hero shoots a gun after the villains as they’re running away. The villains
are frightened, fall on their rumps, occasionally even wet themselves a
little.

All Kako wanted was to recreate that scene and vent his anger a little…
that was his only intention.

Of course, there were times when he had muttered “I’ll kill you!” to the
boys who had bullied him. He’d bought a 10-centimeter-long knife at a
neighborhood store, and at least once or twice he’d practiced some
dangerous “maintenance” with his hands in his room at night ― all the
while imagining himself murdering those boys with that blunt, shiny
“power”.
 162

However, Kako’s words and actions at that time were only the wild
impulses he’d had in those moments. Murder is the most forbidden crime
that a person can commit; Kako himself knew this. Kako had no intention
to kill; he wouldn’t have had the nerve.

However. The beam that fired from the Puppet made impact just as
intended, at the feet of the delinquents’ leader, Kenta Ando. And the
shockwave from that impact was more than enough to completely
slaughter Ando and the other two junior high school delinquents nearby.

The fragments of asphalt that were smashed up by the shockwave flew

around like bullets. At first, from the faraway vantage point of the Puppet,
Kako could only think that what had happened was some kind of joke.
All he had wanted to see was the surprised juvenile delinquents
trembling and begging for forgiveness. But in reality, Ando hadn’t
trembled, hadn’t been surprised. Of course not. He had been smashed
into the side of a building with his head twisted around at a 90-degree
angle, his red blood soaking the asphalt; how could he have had time to
spare for acting surprised?

And it wasn’t just Ando. In the surrounding area, dozens of other kids in
the same uniform as Kako’s lay scattered on the ground. Having been
struck by the flying asphalt, some lay in the road moaning, while others
had collapsed without a sound. This was the result of Kako’s first use of
his power.

“Huh?” For a moment, Kako and the other children couldn’t understand
what had happened. It had just been bright for a moment. He had only
163

fired a little bit of light. How could that have caused the scene before
them?

People he recognized from his school lay scattered in all directions, their
blood spilling onto the ground.

“Nooooo!”

“What did you do?!”

“You murderer!” Shrieks and angry shouting rose up around him.

“It wasn’t me!” Kako responded quickly ― searching for a reason that
he could use to dodge the blame almost as an automatic reflex.

First, he looked at Kirie. Kirie had done it ― if given the chance, Kako
would probably have asserted this. But of course, that would be difficult.

And so: “T-this thing just moved on its own! Really, all on its own!” He
pushed the responsibility off handily onto the Puppet.

And yet… “Impossible.” Maaya objects plainly. “It’s impossible for the
stuffed animal to move on its own. It only moves according to the pilot’s
thoughts. You caused this to happen!”

“How could you?!”

“Do you understand what you’ve done?!”

Kako’s companions focused their attacks on him. Then… realizing that

he couldn’t avoid the blame, Kako instead began to deny that the scene
in front of him was real.
 164

“N… no way…” Shouting, Kako waved his arms wildly as if trying to

dispel the images on the screen. “This can’t be real! Right? The battle
before this wasn’t real either! Nothing happened to Tokyo, right?! That
wasn’t Tokyo! So this isn’t really my town either! So it’s all a lie! This isn’t
my town! This has to be a lie!”

And then, Kako began firing the laser randomly at the town.

“What ― what are you doing?!”

His childish reaction was like an infant who, when his mother discovers
what he’s been up to, gets flustered and reflexively starts to do the same
thing.

However. No matter how childish the motive, the 500-meter giant was
still firing lasers with overwhelming destructive power.

“It’s fake! It’s all a lie! This is a dream! So it doesn’t matter how much I
attack! It’ll still be fine! It’s a lie!”

Fires were breaking out throughout the town. Certainly, viewed from 500
meters up, the entire town looked small enough to be entirely fake. But
the scenes that emerged on the magnified screen and captured Kako’s
gaze as he flailed about could never be mistaken for fakes. The town,
covered in flames. Buildings crumbling.

People dying. And… the fighter planes that had been circling in the sky
swooped downward. Was this a suicidal attack, or an attempt to be a
decoy? Fire spouted from the aircrafts’ autocannons. Armor-piercing
165

ammunition shot out at ultra-high speed, a thousand per second. They

fired off all of their bullets.

However… In effect, these rapid-fire bullets might be able to pierce the

armor of land-based weapons, but against the 500-meter giant they
were completely meaningless. All of the bullets bounced harmlessly off
the black armor of the Puppet. If anything, their only effect was to
frighten Kako deeply, and the two aircrafts’ efforts to save the town only
caused even more damage.

“Waaaaaaah!” Kako let out a pathetic shriek.

The lasers fired in retribution. It wasn’t just one or two shots. To make
apparent just how frightened he was, Kako shot hundreds of lasers from
the Puppet’s body, firing with all of its power.

It was an incredibly excessive amount of firepower for the two aircraft.

Having reduced altitude for their attack, the aircraft took the full brunt of
the volley of lasers, which not only vaporized them without a trace but
mowed down the town below.

“You… you moron!”

“Stop!”

“Kako, stop it! Our town…!” Even the usually docile Kirie was shouting
now.

“It’s a dream! This is just a dream!” Kako yelled as if to shake off the
voices of his friends ― as if trying to convince himself.
 166

But nobody could possibly believe that. Kirie and Kako’s panic indicated
more eloquently than anything else that this was unmistakably reality.

With the cockpit in this state, Maaya’s calm voice rang out clearly. “Well
then. Have you finished warming up now?” Her expression completely
unmoved by the tragedy before their eyes, she was still composed as
ever.

“‘Warming up’?”

Before anyone could protest against her choice of words, Maaya

interrupted. “The enemy is coming,” she said.

And just as she said, there was a now-familiar scene unfolding. A hole
opened up in the sky. And from that hole, the enemy swooped out.

How should it be described? It was like an electric fan monster, or

perhaps a sunflower monster ― “Pinwheel”. Floating in the air, it had
eight long protuberances that looked like petals or propellers, and a
cone-shaped base that connected to a thin, stem-like part. As it
oscillated slowly, Pinwheel descended onto Kako’s town.

The Puppet and Pinwheel stood confronting each other.

The town was all ablaze, and the delinquents were dead.

Ironically, it was just like the scene that Kako had drawn in his notebook
not long ago. The only difference was that Kako was the one who had
destroyed the town. Twelve thousand, five hundred and sixty-two
people: that was the number of missing people and casualties in the
battle that would later be called the first disaster.
167

There’s a famous joke that killing one person makes you a murderer but
killing a million makes you a hero. So was Kako really a hero? Or was
he a murderer?

The opposing Pinwheel’s propellers turned. As it rotated, the tips of its

eight propellers lit up, then emitted rays of light. The eight beams
merged together in mid-air to form a huge torrent of light that hurtled
toward the Puppet.

“Here it comes!”

“Waaaah!” With that, Kako moved the legs of the Puppet for the first time.

As terrified as Kako was, it was only natural that the Puppet crushed the
gymnasium underfoot as it retreated.

The impact of the laser simply blew off half of its right arm.

“Wh… what?! D-damn it! Move! Isaogo!”

The Puppet fired a laser in return. Bullseye. A little flower bloomed on

the surface of the Pinwheel ― but that was all.

“Why?! My attacks aren’t having any effect! It’s a trick!”

“The enemy’s probably specialized in firing weapons!” Kanji shouted

back at Kako.

Pinwheel’s propellers began to turn again.

“Dodge it!” Kodama shouted, but Mako’s voice rose above his. “You
can’t!”
 168

“Why not?!”

“If you dodge, it’ll hit the city!”

The speed of the propellers’ rotation increased, along with their

brightness.

“Aaaaargh!” Then Kako dodged ― or rather, he ran. Turning its back on

the enemy, the 500-meter form of the Puppet sprinted with all its might.

Of course, he made no notice of the town underfoot. He ran and ran,

trampling the people and cars below that were desperately trying to flee
the town.

Then, Pinwheel’s laser struck those individuals who had narrowly

escaped that peril. Following the path of the Puppet’s escape,
Pinwheel’s laser razed over the town ― slicing through railway paths,
cutting diagonally through the train station building.

But Kako took no notice of the expansive damage that resulted from his
actions.

Run away.

Trampling people underfoot.

Run away.

Kicking cars around.

Run away. Run away. Run away.

169

“Stop! The town!” Mako cried desperately. But her words didn’t get
through to him, drowned out by his own screams.

“Waaaaaaah!”

“It’s no use! You saw what happened before! If he takes a direct hit, he’s
screwed!” Kanji insisted.

“But if it misses him, it’ll hit the town!”

“We’re more important than the town!” Kodama snapped, backing Kanji
up.

“How could you say that?”

“No… unfortunately, Kodama is right,” Maria said, her face clouded with
bitterness.

“If we sacrifice ourselves to protect the town, who exactly is going to

protect it once we’re gone?”

“That’s…” Mako couldn’t answer such a question.

“Usually, just one person has to die to protect everyone else. But… if
that’s impossible, all we can do is save as many people as we can.
Hence, what Kodama says is true. To protect the town, we have to be
able to fight; in other words, we absolutely can’t let ourselves be done
in. …but…”

Maria’s gaze naturally turned to the half-crazed Kako.

 170

“Why is this happening?! Damnit! What is this?! Last time it was such an
easy victory! Even Kozue was able to win! So why does mine have to
be such a hard fight?! Unbelievable! It’s unbelievable! Even someone
like Kozue could beat her opponent! Why can’t I beat mine?! Aaaagh!”
Kako didn’t seem to know what he was saying anymore.

“Kako! Snap out of it!” Waku yelled furiously, but of course he couldn’t
get through to him.

Pinwheel fired over and over, and Kako’s Puppet kept running away,
furthering the damage to the town.

This happened over and over.

Several of the children began to notice something: between the firing of

the enemy’s beams, there was something of a time lapse. This was the
process between each shot: First the tips of the propellers would light
up. Then they would turn. When the oscillation reached a certain speed,
the beams of light would fire from the eight propellers. By some principle
or other, these beams would converge in midair, forming one powerful
beam, and fire toward the target.

That was the enemy’s attack pattern.

The group didn’t understand what the rotation of the propellers meant,
but at any rate, it seemed like they had to rotate in order for the beam to
fire. In other words, by carefully watching the speed of the rotation, they
could figure out the timing of the attack.
171

“If you can get up close and strike in the moment of stillness after the
laser fires, you should be able to beat it…” Kodama muttered, growing
impatient.

A few of the others nodded their heads in agreement. But Kako, who
had the crucial role, wasn’t listening to Kodama’s words.

By the looks of it, the propellers were the only functional parts of the
enemy machine ― it had no arms or legs for punching or kicking.

Judging by the power of its lasers, it seemed that it was the stronger
machine in terms of shooting, just as Kanji had said; but it was evident
that in close combat the Puppet would stand a better chance.

In the last fight, a fistfight with a fellow human-shaped machine, the

Puppet had been the overwhelming victor, so surely this time, if it could
just get up close to the body of the opponent, they would have a chance
at winning.

But Kako, running away wildly before the enemy’s laser, would never
notice that.

“Aaargh!”

“I am the chosen one!!”

Kako shouted nothing but these kinds of phrases as he fled.

Then the next strike came from the enemy. This time, though, rather
than shooting after the Puppet, it fired directly in its path.

“It fired the laser ahead!”

 172

“It’s predicting our movements?!” Kodama and Maria exclaimed at the

same time.

“Waaaah!” Kako gave out another pitiable scream, and stopped the legs
of the Puppet for the first time since he had started fleeing from the
enemy’s first attack.

But still, the robot had been sprinting with all its might. The inertia from
that might still be enough to kill him. With its legs stopped, the Puppet
started skidding right into the path of the laser.

“Noooooo! Stop, stop, stop!!”

Whether it was responding to those words or not, the Puppet halted right
as it was about to take a direct hit from the laser.

A small but ominous tremor ran through the cockpit. And then, Kako
could no longer move the Puppet.

“No, no, no!”

“Move, Kako! You’ll get hit!”

“You’ll die! If you take a hit like that, you’ll die!” Kanji’s words, too, fell on
deaf ears as Kako held his head in his hands ― as if this action might
cause the scene in front of him to disappear.

The Pinwheel rotated. But this time…

“Its rotation changed?!” exclaimed Kodama, who had been continuing to

observe the enemy’s movements.
173

Indeed, four of the propellers were rotating clockwise, while four rotated
counterclockwise. Then, the laser fired. This time, it was not one beam
but two, which struck to the left and right of the Puppet.

From both sides, the lasers began to close in on the Puppet like a pair
of scissors.

“We can’t run away from this one!” Mako’s words came out almost in a
scream.

No ― there was one way. A few of them, including Kodama, had noticed
it.

The attack was coming in from either side like scissors. There was only
one way to go from here:

Forward.

He could move forward before the scissors closed, and knock the
opponent out. But how could they get Kako, who’d done nothing but run
away scared, to move forward? Even if they told him what to do, he
wouldn’t listen.

In the minds of the children, the word “death” rose to the surface. The
girls started to scream. And then ―

“Why don’t you hurry up and run?” Among the screams, Kirie’s voice
somehow resounded clearly. His tone was cold, out-of-place, clearly
ridiculous.

“Hurry up and run. Kako, you’re a fast runner, right?”

 174

What are you saying, the others thought, at a time like this?! But…

“Kirie!! You asshole!!”

Never exerting very much effort, believing himself to be a special

individual, and refusing to accept reality unless the world conforms to
his desires, blaming everything on the people around him when it went
awry… This was the usual Kako, and he was behaving exactly as
described.

And so, forgetting the situation he was in, he jumped out of his chair and
slapped Kirie, who was sitting in front of him. Punching him in the face
and knocking him down, Kako then straddled Kirie and continued to
strike.

And that was what saved the children.

The Puppet mimicked these movements exactly: it lunged forward

suddenly, then leaned down and started beating down the town below.
The beams passed right over it; the cockpit trembled, and a few
protuberances on its back were shaved off, but that was the extent of
the damage.

The Puppet had just barely dodged the enemy’s attack. And as Kako
assaulted Kirie, the Puppet closed the distance between itself and the
Pinwheel.

They were at point-blank range, the enemy directly before them. With
just one more step forward, the Puppet would be in the perfect position
to attack.
175

“Screw you, Kirie! Take this!” Kako kept beating down Kirie, but ―

“Kako! In front of you! Now’s your chance!” Hearing this, he finally

recognized the opportunity.

“A-all right!” The Puppet stood up and bashed the Pinwheel with its right
hand, snapping off one of its propellers.

Undaunted, the Pinwheel began to prepare another shot. The ends of

the propellers glowed; the rotation began.

“Stop it from rotating! That way it won’t be able to fire!” Kanji yelled.

“All right, I’ve got this!” Kako responded in high spirits ― having gotten
the upper hand this once, he seemed to have completely forgotten his
panicked state from just moments before.

He wedged the Puppet’s left arm in between two of the propellers.

A contest of strength began between the black arm of the Puppet and
the pure white propellers of the Pinwheel. Sparks flew at the point of
contact. As both armors began to scrape away, the rotation of the
propellers halted.

“We did it!”

“Yeah! It stopped! Now end it in one blow, Kako!”

“Shut up! I know! Don’t order me around!” Holding the propellers in place
with his left hand, Kako struck the Pinwheel with his right, haphazardly
attacking the base of the propellers or the core section.
 176

Strike after strike.

He was attacking with all his strength, but without much purpose.

“Kako! Don’t get crazy! Start by taking away its ability to attack ― aim
for the propellers!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to give me orders?!” Ignoring Maria’s directions,

Kako kept up his assault. Then…

“What the?!” The remaining seven propellers had flown off; they were
attached to the main body by some kind of thin wire. Then, the freely
soaring propellers flew circles around the Puppet, binding it up with
those wires.

“What did I tell you!”

“Shake them off!”

“I, I can’t! The right arm won’t move!”

Now, in the midst of this situation, the tips of the seven propellers began
to glow. They began their attack, firing off thin lasers at the Puppet.

“Since when can it still shoot in this condition?!”

The seven propellers focused their attacks in on the Puppet’s right

shoulder. The lasers seemed weak individually, but it could compensate
for that with this concentrated attack.

“Shoot them down with the laser!”

“R-right!”
177

Lasers fired from the entire body of the Puppet at the detached
propellers, but they skillfully evaded the attacks, and all the while, the
pinpointed attack of their lasers continued unabated. Their firing
mechanisms had unparalleled accuracy.

“Kako! Brace yourself now!”

“For what?!”

“You have to beat it now before it kills you!”

“But my right arm won’t move!”

“What about your left, then?!”

“R-right!”

At this, the Puppet raised its left arm and swung hard.

However, the swing hit nothing but air.

“What are you doing?!”

“The arm is too long!” Kako retorted against his friends’ critical remarks.

The Puppet’s arm was long enough to reach the ground. The reason it
had won out in the last close-range fistfight was that its left arm had been
damaged by the first blow; this had proved to be an advantage. The
excessive length of its arms had actually been a handicap in close-
quarters combat so far.

“Then you’ll have to detach it,” Maaya said coolly.

 178

“Detach it?”

“Oh my, had I not mentioned this? All of the Puppet’s parts can be
detached whenever you like,” Maaya responded to Kako.

“I-is it really okay to just pop it off like that?!”

Kako seemed uneasy.

“What are you talking about?! At this rate, things are about to end really
badly!” Waku shouted, furious that Kako was acting so wishy-washy at
the last moment.

The Puppet was starting to vibrate under the enemy’s non-stop laser
attack.

“Aah, okay, okay!” The left arm of the Puppet severed itself in the middle.

“Listen up, no more hesitating now! Just beat the enemy down!”

This time at last, the Puppet’s left arm collided with the opponent. The
focus of their attack turned on the Puppet’s left shoulder.

Which would come first ― the Puppet defeating the Pinwheel or the
Pinwheel destroying the Puppet’s left arm, its last means of attacking?

The match was extremely close ― only a hair’s width separated them.

In the same moment that the Puppet broke through the base of the
Pinwheel to locate and smash its vital parts, its left arm crashed to the
ground with a thunderous roar.

Victory ― or so it seemed.
179

The enemy collapsed, and the children in the Puppet were still alive.

However…

“Yeah! I did it!” Kako was the only one celebrating.

Kirie ― the boy who lived in the same town as Kako ― was staring
dumbfoundedly at the smoking remains of the town below. They were
the ones who had caused all this. Just how many people must have
died?

“What’s the matter with you all? Hey, what’s with the long faces? Guys!”

“Us? What’s the matter with you?! What were you thinking?!” Waku
responded. “How many people do you think were killed?!”

The color drained from Kako’s face. Of course, even he understood what
he’d just done.

“S-shut up! I couldn’t help it! It was my first time! Besides, I still won, so
what does it matter?!”

“Don’t be an idiot! Is this really a victory?! How can you call smashing
up your own town ‘winning’?!

“Enough of your ‘hero’ crap! We’re just a bunch of middle school

students stupidly piloting around a giant robot! Sure, it sounds like an
anime, but this is our reality! Kozue is dead! Those people from your
town are dead too! You… no, all of us killed them!”

“W… what’s with you, Waku… Did you get cold feet? …W-well, why
don’t you just forfeit your turn, then?… I’m the real pilot, anyway… all
 180

you can do is just watch, anyway… I’ll do better next time. That way…
you can’t complain…” Kako answered, frightened by Waku’s angry
demeanor.

But before Waku could answer, Maaya cut in coldly. “Unfortunately,

that’s impossible.”

“Impossible? What is?” Kako asked, puzzled.

“All of it. First of all, once you’ve made a contract, you can’t back out of
it. Secondly, each pilot can only fight one battle.”

“N-no one told us that! How come?! I’m supposed to be the pilot! No
way! I took this guy down, and I’ll fight the next one, too!”

“That’s impossible,” said Koyemshi. “After all, this stuffed doll uses the
pilot’s life force to move.”

“…huh?”

What did he just say?

“Like I said, the Puppet gets its energy from all of your lives. As each
pilot fights a single battle, that pilot’s life is stolen away. That’s why
multiple pilots are required. Do you understand?”

This time, Kako’s face froze.

The pilot’s life is stolen away…? “S-so I’m going to die?”

“Correct. Thank you for your trouble.”

“Then, that means Kozue…”

181

“Y-you’re kidding me! Bastard!” Interrupting Waku, Kako leapt forward

and struck Koyemshi.

“Oh dear! Please don’t take out your anger on me. What’s the problem?
You get to use your worthless lives to fight for the sake of humanity.
Don’t you think it’s great to die in peace knowing that?

Did you have any last requests…?”

“No way!” Kako’s scream made Waku’s eardrums tremble.

“No, no, no, no, no! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!” Kako threw
himself off of his chair, kicking and screaming like a child in the white
room of the cockpit.

Worst of all, Kako was still in control of the Puppet. Following his
movements, the Puppet rolled around haphazardly, and in fact was even
firing its lasers at random. Now even those areas that had narrowly
avoided damage in the battle not long before were getting destroyed.

“Cut it out!” Instinctively, Waku threw himself at Kako, pinning his body
down frantically.

“Why would you add to the number of victims? Why would you keep
killing?!”

“Shut up! What should I do, then? Just shut up and die quietly?! I don’t
want to die! Don’t wanna die!”

The two of them were getting into a scuffle, but Waku had a natural
advantage in terms of stamina.
 182

Kako was pinned down, his movements slowing.

“Calm down! There must be something we can… agh!” Kako’s left hand
had reached out to grab Waku’s throat. He was deadly serious ― in his
panic, Kako was seriously strangling Waku.

“K… st… op…”

“Shut up! Shut up! What would you know about how I feel?!”

“Y… ou…” It was too painful. Waku could barely hold himself together
anymore. In this position, still on top of Kako, he had the advantage.
Waku began to strangle Kako with both hands.

“Cut... it… out… Ka… ko…”

“Sh… ut… up… you… damn…”

Then… the Puppet stopped moving. The strength drained from the hand
that had been grabbing Waku’s neck.

…The hand fell away limply.

At that, finally regaining a hold of herself, Maria put her hand on Waku’s
shoulder. “Enough, Waku… let go… Kako’s… already dead…”

“I know! I know that… His heartbeat’s stopped! He’s getting colder and
colder! This guy is…!”

“Then let go!”

“But I can’t! My hands won’t let go! They won’t let him go! I can’t get my
hands to move!” Waku’s voice rose into a scream. Whether it was from
183

the extreme tension or panic over the sudden situation, Waku’s hands
were frozen around Kako’s neck.

“Guys, please help!” At Maria’s plea, the others came to pry Waku’s
fingers off of Kako’s neck, one by one. As they were doing so, Waku felt
through the palm of his hands the warmth draining out of Kako’s body.

Finally, with great effort, his friends managed to pull all ten fingers away
from Kako’s neck ― revealing a pallid, ghastly bruise in the shape of
Waku’s handprints.

“It… wasn’t me, right…?”

Waku murmured in a daze.

“I didn’t kill him, did I…? Did I kill Kako…?”

Nobody could answer that question, of course. To deny that would be to

confirm Maaya’s statement. The person who pilots the Puppet will die
― in other words, that would mean that all of them were going to die…

“Don’t worry. Each person dies after piloting the Puppet once. It’s the
truth. Even if you did kill him, all you did was speed it up by a few
minutes.” Maaya alone spoke as she looked down impassively at Kako’s
body.

“Still, this certainly is unpleasant,” she said, with the tone of somebody
worrying over an excessive amount of garbage.

“Generally, nobody gets upset over one or two bodies turning up with no
apparent cause of death, but this is most certainly the corpse of a murder
 184

victim now. We have no choice, Koyemshi. Go ahead and stuff this body
into some opening on the Puppet, please.”

“Understood, my lady,” Koyemshi replied.

It was a short, blunt conversation. Then, in the next moment, Kako’s

body had abruptly vanished. Koyemshi must have teleported it away,
the remaining children realized.

However, they couldn’t believe it. Kako, who’d been alive just moments
ago, was dead. Furthermore, anyone else who became a pilot would die
too. It was all so sudden that it didn’t seem real. They couldn’t
understand it ― or rather, they all refused to do so.

Then it dawned on Waku. The robot only had one pilot… but fourteen
people had made the contract. Why did they need fourteen pilots…?
‘Fifteen enemies will attack the earth,’ Maaya had said on the island.
The Teacher had defeated the first enemy. So ― fourteen enemies
remained. And there were fourteen children.

That was why there were fourteen of them. Everyone here… sooner or
later, everyone sitting on a chair here would die. These chairs weren’t
the seats of the chosen heroes. They were electric chairs ― dooming
all those who sat in them to their deaths. And it was too late for any of
them to run away.

“I’m sorry… Kana…” Maria whispered, moving to embrace Kana, her

voice full of pain. She had stopped Ushiro from attempting to exclude
Kana from the contract. Only in hindsight could she see what she had
185

done: by pushing her into agreeing to the contract, Maria had forced
Kana into the electric chair.

“Why wouldn’t you mention something so important from the beginning?!”

Anko cried in protest.

“Well, because there’s no way you would have agreed if we’d told you,
of course. But you know, the enemy waits for no one. How would you
choose fourteen people to save the world? A national referendum? Well,
that wouldn’t work. The fate of the whole world is at stake, so everyone
who lives on earth should be included in the pool of candidates.

But then, however would you choose? If all of the leaders of the world
gathered together to discuss it, there would just be disagreements ―
disagreements over which country would lead, disagreements over how
to do the polling… While they’re deliberating over all this, the next enemy
would arrive and it would be all over. Thus, we took the liberty of
choosing all of you. That’s great, isn’t it? You all get to die for the sake
of defending the earth. Why, your names will be written into the history
books. …Well, assuming you win, of course.”

“That’s horrible! How could you?!” Anko cried.

Komo, always faint of heart, nearly passed out and had to be held up by
Mako.

And in the middle of it all… “The call just came through… I’m next.” The
source of this quiet utterance was Tsubasa.
186
187

A week has passed.

“The Puppet takes the life of the pilot on every fight” said Maaya and
Koyemshi, the two people — or rather one person and one creature? —
who handed the Puppet to them suddenly.

It is hard to believe, but if that’s true, fighting in this huge robot is also
“unbelievable”.

However, the giant robot existed. In fact, Kozue and Kako lost their lives.
Two people, died… And Tsubasa heard a voice. It was as if the voice
was talking directly to her heart, saying “Tsubasa Hiiragi”.

However, Tsubasa was going on about her day as if nothing happened.

She would get up at 7:20 as always and eat breakfast with her family.
However, this time, the aftermath of the battle entered her reality. In the
morning news, the headlines read:

“Disaster from a mysterious giant monster! What will the government

do!?”

“ 261 10,000 casualties! Rescue efforts continue”

“Miraculous survival! Survivor underneath the rubbles!”

The previous battle made all the headlines in the media. “Disaster from
a giant monster” — The name they gave that battle sounded like a movie
title.
 188

The vast amount of casualties and missing people are represented by

the captions. The number of victims has exceeded ten thousand and
there were still over a thousand people missing.

The TV showed the city Kako lived in. On power poles, there was a note
that read:

-Hisashi, please contact us-

—Yoko, we are going to evacuate to the countryside-

These messages will probably never reach the recipients for they are
not in this world anymore.

A small city shown from 500 meters up in the sky. The city that Kako
stepped on and ruined without remorse. But many people lived there,
just like the city Tsubasa lived in. They had their life there.

The screen changed, showing the list of missing people in the caption.

There were names she recognized.

— Isao Kako (14) —

His parents must be praying right now and believing in the slim chance
that he is still alive.

Knowing that he is dead, and how he died, Tsubasa couldn’t help but
frown.

The news went on to report on politics. They continued to report on

topics related to “monster disasters”. Countries around the world stood
189

up to show support. The Chinese military rescue team just entered

Japan for disaster relief. In the national diet, they were discussing
whether the minister of defense was going to resign or not.

Looks like he is being blamed for “the damage spreading due to the
delay of attack on the two monsters”. Looks like they want someone to
blame Tsubasa thought.

Currently, Japan has the 2nd largest army after China in Asia. Tusbasa
was aware of that. But after seeing the powers of the Puppet and the
enemy, she knew no matter how hard the humans tried, they didn’t stand
a chance.

The minister of defense isn’t being attacked so aggressively because

people want someone to blame. They want to believe, from government
officials to citizens, that they could’ve done something if someone had
done the right thing. Tsubasa understood how they felt.

If someone were to say that one day a mysterious monster was going to
appear and that there was absolutely nothing the humans could do,
nobody would be able to go on about their days anymore. Even if the
monster doesn’t appear again, Japan as a country would be ruined.
That’s why they all treated this attack like an earthquake, or some kind
of natural disaster so that they can go back to their daily routines.

The same applied for Tsubasa’s family. For her parents, that battle was
no different from a fire that started somewhere else or an earthquake
that struck some place far away.
 190

“Tsubasa, you were in the same class as that girl in Nature School,
right?” Her mother was putting jam on the freshly toasted bread when
she asked Tsubasa.

She was talking about the news show personnel Tokosumi-san —

Anko’s father.

The news on the monsters ended and the program went on to show the
latest market rates. Suddenly, there was a frown on her father’s face.
The monster disaster took the Nikkei stock average down 5%.

So far, that was the only way the battle affected her family.

Who would imagine that their own daughter was involved in a battle
against a monster a few hundred meters tall? It’s kind of funny. Who
would believe her? Who would believe that the insane disaster being
reported on TV day after day was caused by a friend Tsubasa met at
Nature School? And the fact that this will be repeated dozens of times
in the future? And that the next battle would be fought by Tsubasa
herself, right here in this city?

She holds the fate of the world in her hands. She couldn’t believe that
herself.

What can she do? Who can she talk to? She had no clue.

The option Tsubasa was left with was no different from the options other
people had. All she could do was to go on about her day like normal.
Leave home at 8:20, meet with Moji who lives next door. 15-minute walk
to school. Same conversations day in and day out.
191

They always talked about Nagi, the boy who also lived — or used to live
— in their neighbourhood.

“Are you going to see Nagi today Tsubasa?”

“He has a check-up in the afternoon, so probably not.”

“Check-up? Today’s not the regular check-up day. Is he feeling sick

again?”

“No, don’t worry. The hospital equipment was being inspected and
his periodical check-up date just changed.”

“Ah, I see. I’m relieved to hear that.”

On the way to school, they always talk about Nagi.

Moji, Nagi, and Tsubasa. They all lived next to each other in the
community house.

They’re all the only child and visit the same class. It was only natural that
they began hanging out with each other. They went to the same
kindergarten and elementary school. They all took the same bento-lunch
to fieldtrips. They always showed up to see Tsubasa play the piano at
her recital.

They were always together, and Tsubasa wanted it to stay that way.

Two boys and one girl.

When the girls got taken out during gym to the video room, she realized
they couldn’t always be together.
 192

Sometimes, people would ask her, “Which one are you going to choose?”
She noticed that the two boys sometimes looked at her as the “opposite
sex” as well.

Someday, she may choose one of them.

Someday, she may marry one of them.

She did think about that. But because she was still in elementary school
back then, “someday” was still far away in the distant future.

Even if she was going to end up with one of them in the future, the three
of them still could stick together for quite a long time. So she thought.

However, that “quite a long time” ended faster than she thought. She
was in 6th grade. Nagi, who was an active athlete, suddenly passed out.
Tsubasa heard the news on the way home right after taking a test at
cram school.

Nagi passed out.

When she heard that, she remembered saying to herself, Are you sure
it wasn’t Moji?

Unlike Nagi, who was an athlete, Moji liked spending time inside.

He would borrow numerous books from the library and read them until
he got a fever from too much reading.

So, when she heard the news, Tsubasa couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t
believe the three of them would grow apart.
193

Nagi had a heart disease. It was genetic, hard to cure. He needed a

heart transplant as fast as possible. If he couldn’t get one, he wouldn’t
live past 20.

So far there was no cure. All he could do was stay still and let his heart
rest. Playing sports was out of the question. Even worse, he was told to
do refrain from standing up/walking unless it was truly necessary.

So, the morning of the day Nagi passed out was the last time the three
of them walked to school together.

A year was about to pass since Nagi was hospitalized in the University
hospital in the next town.

Visiting Nagi was a daily routine for Moji and Tsubasa.

“So I’ll be able to see him the day after tomorrow. Practice will end early
on that day, so I can go with you.”

“Nagi won’t like that...” Tsubasa told Moji.

“Why?”

“Because you always try to teach him math.”

“Wow wow, I’m doing this for Nagi’s own good. Once he finds a donor,
Nagi can go back to school. But if he ends up quitting anyways because
he can’t keep up with the studies.. what’s the point?”

“You’re a nice person, Moji.”

“Well, I have my reasons too.”

 194

“What?”

“Did you know? Since I started teaching Nagi, my grade has gone up. I
do my homework with Nagi too. Teaching someone else is a good way
to review.”

“Ah, so that’s why. I thought it was all for Nagi. Maybe I’ll tell on you.”

“No, don’t. That won’t make anyone happy. Anyways, why don’t you join
the study session Tsubasa?”

“What! Um… N-no thanks! I mean, two students will be a big burden on
you, you know!”

“See, you’re running away from your problems again. That’s why you’re
still having difficulties with math and science. Although I can never beat
you in language arts.”

“I mean… Seeing all those equations, I can’t handle it.”

“Why, it’s so beautiful… Nagi was saying the same thing. He said he
gets sleepy when he looks at numbers. Did you know that Nagi can go
to sleep with his eyes open? Once I thought he was thinking for a long
time on a simple question, but he was sleeping with a pencil in his hand.
Unbelievable.” Moji laughed, and so did Tsubasa.

“But don’t work too hard, ok? Practice too, but you’re helping the student
government too, right? Teraoka-sensei was saying you work harder than
officers and that you were a number 1 candidate for the president of
student council. You have to prepare for the school festival on the day
after tomorrow, right?”
195

“Teraoka-sensei exaggerates too much. The president of my class was

absent for a while because of the flu, and I was only taking his place
temporarily. It’s not my job to begin with. Besides, I feel bad for Nagi if
you’re the only one there, so I’ll figure it out and go with you tomorrow.”

“Really? Thanks.”

Although Moji seems like the non-social type, he cares a lot about his
friends. In addition, he can get things done quickly so people ask him to
handle various tasks for the team or student council. He was much
busier than Tsubasa.

But anytime Tsubasa makes time to visit Nagi, he would always make
time and go along.

Needless to say, Moji is Nagi’s good friend. Of course he cares about

his friend. But Tsubasa kind of knew the real reason. Maybe Moji himself
didn’t even realize it yet.

Moji doesn’t want Tsubasa and Nagi to be alone together.

He wants to prevent us from seeing each other without him.

It was quite obvious. It’s too obvious.

Moji can control his emotions very well, unlike Nagi, who can’t help but
show his emotions on his face. Tsubasa sometimes doesn’t understand
what he’s thinking, but when it comes to this, Moji was really easy to
read.

It’s probably because Moji really cares about me.

 196

That made Tsubasa very happy. But seeing herself as the girl floating
between the two of them undecidedly made her feel like a selfish girl,
which embarrassed her.

And knowing she can’t say yes to Moji made her sad.

Sorry Moji, I’m going to die soon.

Tsubasa remembered one of the scenes from that battle.

Kako died, and the body was teleported away.

Holding down Anko who was screaming at Koyemshi, it was Kanji who
broke the silence.

“If we can’t undo the contract, can we choose not to ride it... can’t
we...? ...If we don’t move the robot, it won’t use our life, which is the
energy source, right?”

“You can choose not to fight, that’s up to you” Koyemshi replied without
hesitation.

“It’s up to you, but who else, other than this Puppet will fight the enemy?
The national defense army, was it? The army of this country. They got
shot down so fast just now. Without the Puppet nobody stands a chance.
Are you just going to leave them alone?”

“B-but.. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a fighting machine like that...”

“Should we use nukes then? That will result in more damage”

197

“Then, instead of beating them, why not trap them in ice or do something
so they can’t move, just like in monster movies?” Kodama said.

“You guys have video games right? Games usually have a time limit,
right? What happens when you can’t beat the game within the given
time?” Koyemshi answered Kodama’s question with a question.

Kodama replied weakly, “Well, if it’s a fighting game... The winner will be
decided based on the leftover HP. But if it’s not a fighting game...”

“If it isn’t..?”

“Game... over?”

“Exactly. This is a game too. The time limit is 48 hours. If you don’t beat
the enemy within 48 hours, you guys lose.”

“Lose? What happens if we… lose?”

The children already had an idea that this “game” they were now a part
of, thanks to Koyemshi, was something very sinister. So they thought
maybe after 48 hours the robot will explode or something.

But what Koyemshi said so lightly was terrifying beyond their belief.

“The earth will come to an end.”

The children gasped. “End…?”

“Yes. Ah, the same thing will happen if you guys lose. If you think the
army will take care of it even if the Puppet gets taken down, you’re wrong.
 198

If you lose, it will all end there. So fight hard, ok? Needless to say, you
will end up dead.”

A terrible time to joke — Needless to say, nobody laughed.

“Let me ask you one thing” said Maria in a overly calm voice. Tsubasa
knew she was intentionally trying to sound calm to not panic.

“When you say it will end, is it some kind of metaphor? Are you saying
that this planet will become inhabitable? Or..” She was trying to find
some kind of hope in despair. If they can figure out what happens “after
they lose”, maybe there is something they can do.

“No.”

But Koyemshi interrupted her coldly.

“It will end, literally. It will disappear completely, it will be gone. There
will be no more earth. Even more, the fact that earth existed in the
universe will vanish as well.”

It was an unimaginable answer.

Koyemshi said “The earth will come to an end.”

Literally, it was the end.

“So, you have two choices. First, win the fight, save the world, and die.
Second, lose, and die with the world. Maybe it’s not too different, but if
you had to choose one, winning might be a better choice, don’t you
think?”
199

“Choose one.. H-how can.. how can you say something like that..” Mako
replied. Her face was completely white.

“I don’t know. What can I do. These are the rules. The young lady and I
were only sent here to explain the rules.”

“Then who made these rules?”

Maria was still trying to act strong.

Maaya answered her question. “Who knows, we don’t even know. God,
maybe.”

“What! How can this happen! God wouldn’t do this! This has to be the
work of the devil…!” Maria disagreed.

That was when Tsubasa felt, what Maria was feeling, for the first time. It
was anger.

“Then, that devil is our god.” It was deep anger.

“Tsubasa, what’s wrong?” Tsubasa was taken back to reality by Moji’s

voice.

I probably had a scary look on my face.

“Are you that worried about Nagi?”

He thinks I was thinking about Nagi. After all, what else could I be
thinking about, right?

“It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll be okay. We just need to wait a little longer.
Organ transplant technology is getting better every year with new laws
 200

being made. Few years ago, kids our age couldn’t get organ transplants,
but now it’s different. Even better, someone might invent a cure
tomorrow that won’t require a transplant at all.” He wasn’t just saying
that.

He explained his claims with reason. He was right. What they need is
time.

There are numerous ways Nagi can be saved. But that’s only if this world
is still here.

“You’re right.” While nodding, Tsubasa made a decision.

Yes, that was the moment she decided, I am going to fight.

“So” Tsubasa remembered that cold voice.

“What do you plan to do? Are you going to fight?” It was Ushiro’s voice.

It was after the battle ended. Ushiro asked the question while Tsubasa
was taken aback hearing the “rules”.

“Are you going to fight and die for us, or are you going to run away and
bring others down with you? Tell us that. I have plans of my own.” He
sounded like he didn’t care about Tsubasa dying.

“You!” Waku snapped at his attitude.

But Ushiro remained calm. “What? Those are the rules, right? It’s
already decided. Getting emotional won’t do us any good.”

So Tsubasa replied. “I’m going to fight”.

201

Tsubasa stood right in front of Ushiro, glaring into his eyes.

I wonder how long it’s been.

Ushiro looked away as if to say, that’s stupid.

Tsubasa went on. “There are people I want to protect” She was thinking
about her parents, friends from school, Moji, and Nagi.

The small bell rang. 5 more minutes until school started. Looks like they
were walking slower than usual from all the thinking.

“Sorry! Let’s hurry” Tsubasa tried to sound as energetic as possible and

told Moji.

I am going to fight. I can do it. Not just Nagi, Moji too. They will do
incredible things in the future.

I really think so. I have no idea how Moji will turn out, and it’s a shame I
won’t be able to witness it, but I cannot lose him. So I am going to fight.
I can do it.

-Two days later.

Tsubasa woke up. She looked at her clock. It was 3 am. It was still dark
outside.

I am going to fight. Death doesn’t scare me. She told herself many times.
She made a decision —or so she thought.
 202

The body can’t lie. Every day since that day, she couldn’t sleep well. She
would go on to spend the rest of the time until her “regular time to wake
up” on her bed, awake.

How many day has it been? The more she tries to go on about her day
like normal, the harder it gets.

Of course it’s scary to die.

Her period didn’t even come when it was supposed to. “I’m going to die-”
She told herself this many times, quietly.

How many days until the next battle? Kozue’s fight was two weeks after
the end of Nature School. Then Kako’s fight followed about two weeks
later.

Then, it was her turn to fight in two weeks or so. But there was no way
to be sure. Those instances could’ve been just a coincidence.

It might be tomorrow, or even right now. I might die tomorrow. Tsubasa

imagined what it would be like to die.

The existence that is “me” will disappear and become nothing.

-Nothing. Yes, I am thinking about nothingness right now. A space with

nothing, all white. But that is not nothing, because there is “me” who is
thinking about “nothingness”. This won’t be the case with real
“nothingness” or “death”. Because I won’t be there. It’s scary. It’s
terrifying.
203

Then Tsubasa remembered about Nagi, whom she’s been a friend with
since they were young, the one who is struggling with a heart condition.
Nagi has been fighting with such fear since he was in elementary school.

Up until now, Moji and I were trying our best to put ourselves in his shoes,
like when we went to visit him at the hospital. If we look too worried, Nagi
may get worried too, so we acted as energetic as possible. But now that
I think about it, what good was that? I was so childish. I was so
insensitive. Just in a few days after I learned about my death, I was
exhausted. How did Nagi spend a year like this? Did he fight against
such fear for a whole year? I had no idea how Nagi felt, thought Tsubasa.

She once wrote “I want to be as nice as possible to Nagi, who may die
tomorrow from a heart condition” in her essay during 6th grade. She
wanted to go back in time and kill herself for writing that.

“Nagi and I”. She got the 2nd prize in the essay contest hosted by the
prefecture.

Give me a break. So stupid. How arrogant I was. Did I really think I knew
how Nagi felt? Did I really think I could ease his pain? Maybe instead of
easing his pain, I may have been making it worse.

Then morning came. Morning. 7:10.

It’s not that she wakes up at this time every day. It’s just late enough to
not worry her parents. A regular morning.

How many more of this do I have left? How many more mornings can I
enjoy?
 204

You could tell from the face in the mirror she wasn’t getting enough sleep.
The bottom of her eyes was black. She told her parents it was because
she had a test soon, but that excuse wouldn’t last forever.

Will it hold up until I die? A horrible joke. She struggled to put on

foundation and concealer on her black spots under her eyes.

Make up, I thought it would be much later. My first makeup experience

was in the classroom. A friend got worried and let me use her set. My
first-. Much later-.

The future. Such a vague word. But now that I think about it, there were
many things I wanted to try. But I’m going to die without being able to try
any of them. Tears dripped down her cheeks.

Later that day, scratching her eyes and getting through a day of class,
Tsubasa went to Nagi’s hospital afterschool.

Moji couldn’t cancel his plans after all.

She knew Moji wouldn’t like Tsubasa seeing Nagi by herself. But she
wasn’t sure how many times she would be able to see Nagi. Furthermore,
she won’t be around to satisfy Moji’s feelings. So she chose Nagi over
Moji. That’s what she wanted Moji to think too. She opened Nagi’s door.
A white room.

Before his illness, he had brown skin from all the tan he got, but now his
skin was whiter than Tsubasa’s.

There was a photo on the side table. It was Tsubasa, Nagi, and Moji.
Tsubasa wearing a sailor uniform and the other two wearing uniforms
205

for boys. But the background was this hospital room. They took this on
the first day of junior-high. Since then, Nagi never wore his school
uniform.

What does he think about every day looking at this picture? Wiping away
her curiosity, she put on a smile on her face and started to arrange the
fruits she brought as a get-well wish.

This may be the last time she sees him. So she wanted it to be as fun
as possible. For herself, and for Nagi. That’s what Tsubasa was thinking
about.

But the first thing Nagi said when he saw Tsubasa was, “What’s wrong,
Tsubasa? You look tired, is everything ok?”

I am so bad at this. If it were Moji, I could get through it without raising

any suspicions. Tsubasa tried her best to cover it up.

“Ah, yeah. Well, that recent news”

“What?”

“That.. um.. black monster” — crap, thought Tsubasa. She could’ve just
said something didn’t go well at school. Why did I bring up the Puppet?

“Ah, I saw on TV. It was intense. That happened for real right? I thought
it was some kind of movie —. No, wait. Godzilla is only 100m tall. That
thing was at least 500m tall, at least that’s what they said on the news.
Its head was above the clouds.”
 206

Tsubasa had no choice but to keep talking about it. She didn’t want to
though.

She got tempted to tell him everything. She might break down crying in
front of Nagi.

“Y.. yeah. My friend was in that town. Someone I met at Nature School
—”

“Are they… ok?”

“One of them is ok. But the other one is missing… Probably…”

“I see… Sorry… I’m sorry Tsubasa...”

“Huh?”

“When I was watching it on TV, I saw the home video footage many
times. I thought it was kind of cool because it looked like a movie or
some kind of anime. But people died right?”

“No don’t —”

“I wish I had died instead of him..”

“What—?”

“I should’ve died for him instead. I don’t have many years to go anyways.
So I wish I could use my life for someone else’s wellbeing.”

“No...”
207

“In the beginning, right after I got the illness, I prayed every day that a
donor would pop up. But that wasn’t praying. I was cursing others. I was
hoping someone would die, every day. But even if I could get a
transplant, I’d still need to take medication and suffer from the side
effects. I won’t be able to do any good for the world. Maybe I should just
die quickly. See, I used to play sports. I’ve been a vegetable for a year,
but my other organs are pretty healthy. If I die now, it may help others. I
mean, just like the doctor says, there is a possibility I may find a full
match donor. In that case, there’s no need to take medication because
my body won’t resist it. No need to suffer from the side effects either with
a full match donor. But what are the chances of someone with a heart
like that dying in the near future? Slim to none. So I thought the best
thing I could do now is to die quickly”

“Stop!” She couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Please! Don’t say that! I am
happy just seeing you alive!”

“Thank you. But it’s okay. I’m not scared of death anymore. I gave up,
it’s fate…”

Silence.

“Tsubasa, I like you a lot.”

And he confesses his love for her.

“But you like Moji, right?”

“I like both of you —”

 208

“No, I mean as a man and a woman. But with me around, you can’t go
out with Moji. Tsubasa, remember what you said to me? ‚Don’t worry, I’ll
be here until you get better. Until then, I won’t choose someone specific
and go out with them‘.”

I did say that. I was probably thinking about Nagi. But that’s not all. It
was also to protect myself. I couldn’t choose between Nagi and Moji. I
was a selfish girl like that.

“So you can forget about that promise. I don’t want to get in your way. I
want you to be happy.

Take good care of Moji —”

Tsubasa understood. She can’t help it.

Not scared to die? That’s a lie.

Now that she is in the same shoes as Nagi, she gets it. She was about
to cry. Her vision started to get blurry. She was about to spill everything,
so all she could do was keep crying.

At the same time. In the waiting room of the hospital Nagi was in, there
was Moji. He had a cup of coffee in his hands. It was half empty and
cold.

In his bag was an application for the school festival budget. Normally the
accountant will handle this, but because people realized he was really
good with numbers, he was given the responsibility, even though he was
in his 1st year. It wasn’t much work, but if he tried to finish it first, he
wouldn’t make it to Nagi’s visiting hours.
209

He just didn’t like the idea of Tsubasa visiting Nagi alone. He told others
that he would finish this at home and snuck out. But, just as he was
about to enter Nagi’s room, he heard, “Tsubasa, I like you a lot”.

He couldn’t stay there.

I see, this was what I was afraid of. Moji finally realized.

Needless to say, he knew how Nagi felt, and Tsubasa too. Moji’s been
with them since elementary school. Of course he knew. Yes.

Nagi was his rival over Tsubasa.

When Nagi got sick, somewhere inside I was happy, knowing I would be
able to get Tsubasa.

But knowing Tsubasa, he knew she wouldn’t choose him over Nagi who
had the advantage.

Tsubasa will never leave Nagi’s side as long as he’s alive. Thinking
about Nagi, she would never go out with me. And even if Nagi dies, she’ll
never choose me, thinking about Nagi who passed away. Moji thought
to himself.

The three of us were together for too long. Nagi and I were a set. But
then, Tsubasa should be left with only two choices. Nagi, or neither
—. Stop it.

Moji told himself.

He had this thought many times thinking about Tsubasa. He knew where
this was going. The only way — a terrible way — to get Tsubasa was —
 210

The radio in the lounge was talking about the “monster disaster” like
yesterday. Every day, the count for missing people decreases and the
death count increases. In midst of that, an unrelated news caught his
attention.

“The police arrested Kazutaka Murai (32) on the count of murder.

According to the police, he is under investigation for the murder of
Tadashi Yanagisawa, an employee who lives in the same city, on the
day of the monster disaster. At the time the death of Mr. Yanagisawa
was thought to be a result of the monster disaster, but there were many
strange scars and wounds on his body and the police were looking into
his death.”

Looks like someone who tried to blame a murder on the monster disaster
got arrested. That’s not a bad idea. I mean, over ten thousand people
died. They say there aren’t enough crematoriums at the moment.

They don’t have time to investigate every death. But this guy got caught
because he used a knife. And unfortunately for him, the body didn’t get
crushed by the buildings. No matter how big the disaster is, if there is a
stab wound, people will notice. Honestly, he was —

“-Stupid, just plain stupid.”

He realized there was a girl sitting next to him. She had shining black
hair in pigtails. She was wearing a uniform from the same school. But
he didn’t recognize her. With her looks, if he saw her he would remember.
211

“He should’ve used a rock or something instead of a knife. I mean, right?

Then people would’ve assumed he got killed by a brick that flew by, and
nobody would’ve realized.”

— It was as if she read Moji’s mind.

“Scary. Have we met somewhere before?”

„You’re quite famous in school Moji. You always rank within the top 10
in standardized testing in the prefecture. You get the best grades in class.
You’re a genius that comes by once every 10 years.”

“Are you here to visit someone?”

“Yes, my grandmother. But my mom is talking with her in private.

Probably about her will. Adults have so much to worry about. They have
to hide so many things” She sighed loudly. “So I was bored. Can you
pass the time with me? Just until my mom gets back here?”

“Sure. What’s your name?”

“I’m Mayako Makishima. Call me Maaya. Class number 2.”

“So you’re in the same class as Tsubasa. Do you know her?”

“Yes, very well. So, how would you do it?”

“What?”

“If you were to kill someone in midst of the monster disaster.”

 212

“Pretty violent for a casual chat. Well, let’s see. — I don’t I need to do
anything directly. Perhaps do something to make them immobile, and
leave them in a dangerous location?

Like putting them to sleep using a pill or locking them in a room —”

“Or if the person can’t evacuate by themselves, you won’t even need to
do that.”

“True. Even if someone found out, you won’t be penalized. I mean, if you
tried to save someone who can’t walk in such a situation, you risk dying
too.. Do you know about the ‘Plank of Carneades’?”

“Yes. After the ship sank, a man was holding onto a piece of wood. Then
another man appeared to grab on to the plank as well, but it was too
small to hold two grown men. So the man kicked off the man who came
and he drowned to death. He survived because of what he did. He was
tried in court for this, but he was found innocent. A happy ending, right..

„You can’t blame someone for sacrificing someone else to save their
own life.” said Maaya. She sounded like she was telling herself that. “Or
if only one person can get the board, you can knock down others at all
costs, right?”

“That may be going too far. But that’s scary. If the monster appeared
near this hospital, what will happen? Will the people who are
hospitalized be able to evacuate?”

“They’ll be okay” said the girl with confidence.

“The monster won’t come to this town.”

213
 214

“True… It’s pretty rare. In fact, I hope that never happens again.”

Then the girl responded sharply to Moji’s response. “The monster will
appear in your town. And in few days.”

“What?”

“So if you want to kill someone in this hospital, you better invite them to
your town first.” she sounded so confident, Moji started to get suspicious.

“What are you—?”

“Just joking. You surprised?”

“That’s not funny. That’s too far”

“Sorry. But sometimes, what we joke about happens for real.

So I just said it just in case you don’t regret it.”

“Thanks. But I’m ok. I don’t have anyone I want to kill—”

“That’s unfortunate. But are you sure? Everyone has somebody they
want to kill right? I think you should be honest with yourself.”

Who is this girl? It’s like she knows what I’m thinking.

“Thanks, but I’m sure” —A lie. That thought I just had. A horrible way to
get Tsubasa. Death of Nagi that isn’t caused by disease. Something that
may occur to either one of us. Then, I can get on the same ground as
Nagi. Nagi dies from something other than his illness. Then, I can get
Tsubasa. For instance—yes. The mysterious monster strikes the town.
What a stupid thought. The monster appearing here? What are the
215

chances of that? Or maybe a big earthquake will strike the hospital and
everyone gets crushed because the structure of the hospital had some
missing parts. That has a better chance of happening. But if —. Moji was
unlucky in the sense that he could not stop thinking.

A normal person would stop thinking here, but his brain just kept
connecting ideas regardless of his will.

But if the monster were to appear here, I need to make Nagi go back
home. He has been doing better these days. If he wants to go home
temporarily, the hospital will probably let him. But how? Ah, it’s almost
that day… Last year we couldn’t do it because he got hospitalized, but
maybe we can do it this year. Yes. Kill Nagi? No. Not that. I want Nagi
to enjoy himself as much as possible. So that he doesn’t regret anything
when the unthinkable happens.

“Moji!” Unfortunately, Moji’s brain had already drafted a plan before

Tsubasa interrupted its thought process. A plan to make Nagi return
home.

“Ah, you were here…”

“Yeah...” Tsubasa’s eyes were red.

What happened? And she’s acting a bit strange. But considering what
he heard from outside the room, it’s quite obvious.

I can’t just ask her. Moji decided to act oblivious. Finishing the cold
coffee, he lied.
 216

“Club activity ended faster than I thought so I came by but the visiting
hours were over. So I was chatting with her.”

“Her?”

“Yeah. She said she was in the same class as you Tsubasa.”

“She went home?”

“Huh?” Moji turned around. That girl he was just talking to was gone. It
was as if she was never there to begin with.

—The day finally came.

On the way back from school. Lit up by the red sun disappearing in the
horizon, the black monster, the Puppet that uses Tsubasa’s life as
energy appeared. And so did the enemy.

The enemy, which appeared from nowhere like always, looked stranger
than usual. It was floating in the air. For some reason, it’s floating and
staying perfectly still. And there were two of them. One was narrow like
an “Arrow”. The other one took shape of a pentagon that looked like a
baseball base. Perhaps a “Shield”.

Looking up at the enemy, Tsubasa realized this was the last day for her.
But she was thinking about Nagi and Moji. Fortunately, both Nagi and
Moji were at the hospital in a different town. They had “something to talk
about as men”.

But since the Puppet is 500m tall, they may not be so safe after all.
217

But if I fight properly, I can protect them both. I have to win to do that. she
told herself.

Cars were honking everywhere. The quiet town was in chaos. People
were panicking, trying to evacuate.

“Ready to die?” someone said behind her.

Tsubasa wasn’t startled. She knew it was coming. She turned around.

Maaya and Koyemshi.

Tsubasa replied. “Yes. I’m going to fight.”

“Tsubasa!” Her teammates welcome Tsubasa as she gets transferred to

the cockpit.

Everyone looked worried.

“Don’t worry…” said Tsubasa with the best smile she can muster.

“I have people I want to protect” she said as she looked around.

Some looked away.

Some looked back and nodded.

Some already had red eyes.

Lastly her eyes met with Ushiro.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to fight. But let me ask you one thing, what are
you going to do? Do you have someone you want to protect?”
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“None of your business…” Ushiro’s attitude appeared childish to

Tsubasa.

She sat down.

She stared at the enemy in front of her. Arrow and Shield.

„Contradiction“.

“There are two enemies this time?”

“No, that’s one enemy. There’s only one weak point. I think one of them
remotely controls the other. It’s a rare type” said Koyemshi.

“I see. If possible I want to wait until everyone evacuates, is that

possible?”

“It’s up to the enemy. I wonder if it will wait.” Before Koyemshi finished,

the Arrow started to move. It came at Tsubasa at unimaginable speed.

“Come on, wait just a bit!”

Screaming, Tsubasa jumped back to avoid the attack. She stepped on

and crushed buildings, cars, and people. But that didn’t stop her. She
was “used to seeing that”. If she hesitates, the damage will increase.
The battle began.

The Arrow attacked and the Shield blocked and created diversions. That
was how the “Contradiction” fought.

The Arrow attacked with speed every time the Puppet stalled. It was too
much to take even if the Puppet swung its arms. All it could do was avoid
it.
219

Whenever it tried to shoot it off with laser, the Shield would block it. It
was as strong as it looked.

Firing at it didn’t yield much damage. But if it tried to strike the Shield
directly, the Shield would fire laser beams randomly and back up. Then
the Arrow would come flying in no time. The fight was in a deadlock.
Perhaps the Puppet was at a slight disadvantage.

Seeing the Puppet avoid various attacks, the enemy changed its
strategy. Now it started to attack simultaneously with laser from the
Shield and speed attack from the Arrow.

If the Puppet avoids the laser, it will get struck by the Arrow, and if it tried
to avoid the arrow, it gets hit by the laser. It was a sinister attack.

The Shield was about half the size of the Puppet. If struck, the Puppet
probably won’t be okay. Then, the only thing the Puppet can do is to get
hit by the laser on purpose. Even though it only shaves off the surface
slightly, what would happen when it gets repeated numerous times?

The two fighters went on and on like this.

Then something changed when the laser that ricocheted off of the
Puppet’s armor struck the three houses that belonged to Tsubasa and
her friends.

Nagi and Tsubasa’s houses were gone completely. Moji’s house was
half gone.
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“Argh!” Tsubasa frowned, but she told herself, It’s okay. Nobody is at
home. It’s sad to see her house with personal memories disappear, but
houses can be rebuilt.

But then.

Tsubasa suddenly noticed there were two people in the half broken
house. She didn’t actually see it, but she knew it somehow. She knew
there were two lives there. The ability to detect life, this was one of the
abilities that the Puppet gave to the pilot. But Tsubasa didn’t have time
to doubt this. Because the two lives there were people she knew very
well, and people that shouldn’t be there.

The screen opened and it zoomed in on the image. From the cracks of
the roof, there they were, Nagi and Moji.

Moji had set up a small surprise party. If Tsubasa had been in a normal
state of mind, she would’ve remembered. Today was a special day for
the three of them.

Today was the day Tsubasa and the other families moved here. Last
year, the celebration was put on hold because Nagi got hospitalized. But
until then, they held small parties at Moji’s house every year.

Moji invited Nagi back home temporarily to hold the annual party with
the trio. Then, Nagi and Tsubasa, who has been feeling under the
weather recently for some reason, would feel better.

Regardless of what lead to this idea, when he thought of this plan, he

intended no harm what so ever. This was the same even when the
221

monster appeared. Nagi and Moji were still in the house, simply because
Moji thought it would be the safest thing to do to stay in the house. The
street in front of their houses was crowded to begin with. It got packed
with people trying to evacuate immediately. If Moji stepped out with Nagi
who couldn’t walk well, they would’ve been crushed by the crowd.
Unless they had a car or something, they wouldn’t be able to avoid the
monster on foot. After all, it was a 500m tall monster. If he wanted, Moji
could’ve abandoned Nagi and made a run for it. But Moji didn’t do it. Up
until that decisive moment, Moji was willing to protect Nagi.

In fact, Moji was right. Tsubasa, who was in control of one of the
“monsters” tried to avoid their houses unconsciously. The three houses
were the safest location in the town that was chosen as the battlefield.

But Tsubasa could not predict how the enemy laser would ricochet. And
that moment was here. The laser that reflected off from the Puppet‘s
armor took down half of the house that the two were in.

At first Moji couldn’t understand what happened. A flash of light and a

loud noise, followed by a big shock. His thought stopped. Then he
realized, he was on the floor.

He woke up in the rubble. There was sand in his mouth. He could see
the sky. And a black devil-like shadow. He collected his thoughts. He
checked himself. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be seriously hurt. Just a
few scratches.

Then he suddenly remembered about his friend. Groaning sound. There

he was, Nagi, holding his chest under rubbles. The sudden attack on the
house by the monster was strong enough to cause a heart attack.
 222

“Argh…”

Then Moji remembered something. Was it because of confusion caused

by a sudden accident? Maybe the huge black monster in front of him
reminded him of that girl at the hospital with the black hair.

Moji’s thoughts. ‚No need to do the dirty work directly. Just immobilize
the person and leave them in a dangerous location. Or if the person can’t
evacuate by himself or herself, it’s even easier. Even if someone finds
out, you can’t be tried.

Do you know about the ‘Plank of Carneades’? If only one of you can hold
onto the plank, you can knock off the rival at all costs.

Moji looked at his feet. He didn’t see a friend he should save. It was an
enemy of love he had to get rid of. Holding his heart with his left hand,
Nagi took out his medications with his right hand. Moji stepped on that
hand.

“Agh…! Moji…”

Moji suppressed his emotions. So that he could kill his friend.

I need Tsubasa.

“Sorry Nagi.” It sounded like he was apologizing for being late.

“It’s a perfect opportunity. The town is in panic because of the monsters.

A sick child gets a heart attack seeing all this happen and dies. Nobody
would doubt that” Words came out smoothly as if he had prepared those
lines beforehand. He had many opportunities up until now.
223

Why didn’t I do it faster? Now that I think about it, it’s kind of weird.

“Moji…”

“Tsubasa is a nice girl. If you’re alive, she won’t be able to be free

because of you. So die for Tsubasa, please. Sorry Nagi.” He took away
the pill case from his left hand.

Then Moji made a run for it. He never turned back. Moji had committed
the perfect crime. In fact, Nagi was later counted among the thousands
of casualties in the “second monster disaster” and buried. The only
witness was the “monster”. Actually, to be more precise, it was Tsubasa
who was in that monster, and the twelve children plus one creature.

“Koyemshi! Send me there!” Seeing the scene, Waku screamed.

“Ah, fine… It’s not my fault if you get crushed.”

“Shut up, hurry up!”

“I’m coming too!” Maria followed.

With Koyemshi, the two of them got transferred to Moji’s house. Holding
Nagi, they went back to the cockpit. Maria, who has experience,
performs first aid. Waku kept on massaging his heart.

But—

“Moji… Th... Thank you…” All they could do was listen to his last words.
His heart had completely stopped beating.

“Argh! Why!” A loud bang and shock erased Waku’s scream.

 224

The Puppet got struck clean by the Shield. The huge monster fell down.
The right arm was gone from the shoulders.

Waku looked at Tsubasa.

Standing still, Tsubasa was crying.

“…Why..? Moji… Why…” Tsubasa was completely out of commission.

Tsubasa, fight. Waku was about to say this, and stopped.

Who can blame her? The boy she was trying to save just killed another
boy she was fighting for. What reason does Tsubasa have to fight now?
What reason does she have to protect a world like that? Who can
command her to fight?

Then, suddenly—

“I-it’s still beating!” screamed Kirie.

“Tsubasa, his heart is still beating. We still have time! Hurry, take down
the enemy! We need to take him to the hospital!”

—This was a lie. But what else would’ve made Tsubasa continue
fighting?

The Puppet avoided the Arrow’s blow.

“Nagi! Stay with us!” Tsubasa screamed.

The battle resumed. But not much changed. All the Puppet could do was
to avoid attacks from the Arrow.
225

“Koyemshi! Can you detach the cockpit from the Puppet?!” Everyone
wondered why she asked that.

“Yes. All you need to do is think about it, and you’ll figure it out” said
Koyemshi calmly.

Tsubasa dodged multiple blows from the Arrow.

“Everyone, hold on tight!” she screamed suddenly.

The Arrow came at them from the front. But Tsubasa didn’t move.
Everyone was afraid that she had given up out of desperation.

“Tsubasa! Dodge!”

“What are you doing?!”

“Now!” Tsubasa screamed as people criticized her.

Suddenly the front view got higher.

“The cockpit of the Puppet has been dethatched!” Waku got the idea.

Then, right below, the Arrow speared through the main body of the
Puppet. Its explosive power. It was so powerful, it didn’t slow down a bit
even after penetrating the Puppet.

Then they saw what was in front of the Arrow. — Shield.

Then the two collided.

The sharp tip of the Arrow crushed the Puppet and the Shield.
 226

Then—Impact. The cockpit landed on the ground. Buildings and houses

got crushed beneath, raising a cloud of dust.

Then, when the clouds disappeared, they finally saw the Puppet from
ground level. Actually, they saw the Puppet and the Shield, both
penetrated by the Arrow.

The Puppet too, the Shield, the Arrow, none of them moved at all. They
stood there like tombstones.

“Did… we win?”

“Nicely done. You crushed the enemy’s weak point. You guys win”
Koyemshi replied.

“Koyemshi! Hurry! We need to take Nagi to the hospital!” screamed

Tsubasa.

She screamed.

Waku couldn’t look straight into her eyes.

“Tsubasa… I’m sorry…” said Kirie in a hoarse voice.

Tsubasa realized the truth. That Nagi was no longer alive.

“Ah… I’m so… Why am I so gullible…?”

“Tsubasa…”

“It’s okay… Waku, you guys have someone to protect… I don’t blame
you…” Tsubasa replied and held Nagi’s corpse. It was as if she was
227
 228

trying to warm him up with her body temperature because he was slowly
but surely losing body temperature.

“Hey… Nagi… What did I fight for…” Nagi, or what used to be Nagi, did
not respond. And her teammates around her couldn’t say anything either.

Tsubasa kissed Nagi on his cold lips. And she stayed like that for quite
a long time.

“Tsubasa…” Waku called her name to break the silence.

Tsubasa didn’t respond.

A few days later.

A group funeral was being held in the town where the battle took place.

The previous area where the battle erupted was still in recovery. From
volunteers to supplies, there was a shortage on everything. The fire
wasn’t completely out yet. Some districts still had smoke coming out.

In midst of all this, a funeral was being held for those who were lost in
the disaster, including Tsubasa and Nagi. Major public facilities have
been destroyed, so the funeral was being held in an empty land under
the blue sky. The large vehicles and the news choppers flying in the sky
made it hard to hear the voices reciting the sutra. But you could still hear
the sound of people crying.

There were a few hundred of them. Waku was one of them. Then, after
the funeral, he saw a familiar face.

Moji.
229

Tsubasa’s friend. Tsubasa’s loved one. And the one who betrayed
Tsubasa. It wasn’t why he came here. He wanted to see Tsubasa and
Nagi for the last time.

But as soon as he saw his face, Waku could not resist.

He ran to catch Moji, who was walking towards the temporary tents
weakly. Grabbing his shoulders, he pulled him out of the crowd.

He grabbed his collar. “Tsubasa did it for you! For you!..” But Waku
couldn’t go on, because there was no response. He was alive, but his
eyes weren’t looking at Waku. It didn’t seem like he was looking at
anything at all. His eyes were blurry and foggy.

Even with Waku shaking him, Moji didn’t respond in any way. His neck
just shook like a broken doll.

Back then, the strong will he showed when he abandoned his friend
during the battle was gone. He was just standing there, breathing.

It looked like he wasn’t eating much either. He looked skinnier than usual.
He looked like he didn’t know why he was there. If he would have played
the villain, maybe Waku could’ve been saved. If he already had a new
girlfriend even though it was only a week since the incident, and acted
to cry during the funeral then went on a date afterwards, he could’ve
struck him with his fists. He could’ve avenged Tsubasa’s death. But it
was really hard for him to accept. He had no choice. Moji had paid for
his actions.

He was already dead.

 230

He was an empty shell. So there was nothing Waku could do. All he
could do was shake an empty boy by the collar and repeat himself,
“Why… Why…”

Then Waku heard a voice. A voice that spoke directly to his heart.

A voice that called his name — Takashi Waku -.

231

Commentary by Mohiro Kitoh

Hi, this is Mohiro Kitoh, the creator of the original work.

This may come as a surprise, but I’m just going to come straight out and say it —
I hate multi-ending style RPG and adventure games.

I’m talking about those games that have so-called ‘forks in the road’, where you
make choices that effect how the story turns out.

Here we are, working our asses off day after day trying to narrow down a bunch of
possible storylines to find the best one, only to have some guy come along and
throw them all together and present the result as a single product.

Can you see why this would really piss me off?

For the moment, let’s leave to one side the fact that this creates all kinds of extra
work, like making all those different routes…

And then there’s all the spin-offs into different media types…

Anime, live-action, movies, manga, novels — these are all presentations of one of
the various routes from the original story. Despite all the hardships that the creator
has gone through in choosing the storyline that they considered best at the time,
a completely different story gets put out for the world to see.

For the writer, this means one of two things occurs. Either the storyline that gets
put out is inferior to the one you created, causing you to hold your head in your
hands and bang your fists on the table screaming “WHY DID THEY DO THAT?!”
Or, the storyline that gets put out is better than the one you created, causing you
to get pissed off at your own incompetence.

Ok, so getting back to THIS work — the one I’m supposed to be talking about.
Here’s what I thought when I read it…
 232

“They’ve put Kozue’s and Nagi’s storylines together!!”

“I never thought of this gag…”

“So that’s what this character was thinking when they were doing that… I get it
now…”

“So the kids first game of the season was an away game, huh? I wonder how this’ll
turn out…”

“I never thought of this gag…”

“They gave Kako some disclosure material… Interesting…”

“Poor Kako! He even lost the privilege of receiving the final blow from that kid he
liked…”

“So that’s what this character was thinking when they were doing that… I get it
now…”

“Over-the-knee socks, huh? Awesome…”

“Yeah, the girl in the wheelchair was the basis of it all! Come to think of it, Clara
Sesemann1...”

“So, they went for pigtails. I get it. But what about Takkong2?”

(Remainder omitted)

Footnotes:
1: Clara “Klara” Sesemann is a character from the series “Alps no Shoujo Heidi” who sits in a wheelchair.
2: Giant monster from the series “Return of Ultraman”. Takkong is having a fight with another giant monster
named Zazahn smashing Tokyo Bay and it is later fighting Ultraman.